Elias Canetti Quotes

Elias Canetti

Profession : Author

Birth : July 25, 1905

As if one could know the good a person is capable of, when one doesn't know the bad he might do.

Elias Canetti

There is no doubt: the study of man is just beginning, at the same time that his end is in sight.

Elias Canetti

There is no such thing as an ugly language. Today I hear every language as if it were the only one, and when I hear of one that is dying, it overwhelms me as though it were the death of the earth.

Elias Canetti

Someone who always has to lie discovers that every one of his lies is true.

Elias Canetti

The profoundest thoughts of the philosophers have something trickle about them. A lot disappears in order for something to suddenly appear in the palm of the hand.

Elias Canetti

Every decision is liberating, even if it leads to disaster. Otherwise, why do so many people walk upright and with open eyes into their misfortune?

Elias Canetti

Most religions do not make men better, only warier.

Elias Canetti

People love as self-recognition what they hate as an accusation.

Elias Canetti

The great writers of aphorisms read as if they had all known each other well.

Elias Canetti

Words are not too old, only people are too old if they use the same words too frequently.

Elias Canetti

The planet's survival has become so uncertain that any effort, any thought that presupposes an assured future amounts to a mad gamble.

Elias Canetti