“Time past was nothing, no matter how long. Time ahead was everything, no matter how brief.”
Source: Grass (1989), Chapter 17 (p. 385)
His entire afterword to The Essential Ellison (1987)
Also quoted in the death announcement made by his publicist (28 June 2018).
“Time past was nothing, no matter how long. Time ahead was everything, no matter how brief.”
Source: Grass (1989), Chapter 17 (p. 385)
“In the autumn of 1929 the mightiest of Americans were, for a brief time, revealed as human beings.”
Source: The Great Crash, 1929 (1954 and 1997 https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25728842M/The_Great_Crash_1929), Chapter I, A Year To Remember, p. 5
“Struggling to be brief I become obscure.”
Brevis esse laboro,
obscurus fio.
Source: Ars Poetica, or The Epistle to the Pisones (c. 18 BC), Line 25