July 2011
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Self-quoting is fun
“My son is a little intrigant and a truly talented hypocrite: be very careful not to hang on his every word, Lieutenant”.
“As Your Majesty commands”. Could he contradict the king? No. Just not believe him.
Say hello to my new favourite line. The best thing is that I wrote it myself. Hooray for inspiration!
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And you thought the Dreigroschenoper was enough to...
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Have some Claus von Stauffenberg quotes.
“If our most highly qualified General Staff officers had been told to work out the most nonsensical high level organization for war which they could think of, they could not have produced anything more stupid that that which we have at present.”
“They’ve all left me in the lurch”. (20-7-1944, shortly before being shot by the firing squad).
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I torture my characters, so what?
“Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of.”
(Kurt Vonnegut)
And, I might add, no matter how violent and mean my leading characters are, either.
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No, non riesco a essere una persona seria neanche...
Amica lettrice, scrutando la mia libreria: “Vorrei che mi prestassi un romanzo, uno bello davvero però. Uno di quei romanzi leggeri, che volano… Quale mi consigli?”.
Io: “Uno qualunque, basta che lo scaraventi dalla finestra”.
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Kapuzinergruft.
Oggi è morto l’uomo che, se la Grande Guerra non fosse finita com’è finita, sarebbe stato l’Imperatore d’Austria e Re d’Ungheria. Qualcuno che non è il telegiornale se n’è accorto.
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Leggete, oh scrittori, meditate e fate la ricerca.
”[…] Se proprio volete saperlo, ‘Guerra e pace’ l’ho letto… Quello sì che è un libro. L’ho letto tutto, fino in fondo, e con piacere. E sapete perché? Perché l’ha scritto non un imbecille qualsiasi, ma un ufficiale d’artiglieria”.
(Michail Bulgakov, La guardia bianca)
Sì, la differenza tra l’imbecille qualsiasi e la persona...
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Back when Sweden meant something slightly more...
“I don’t want to know or hear anything about neutrality. [The Elector of Brandenburg] has to be friend or foe. When I come to his borders, he must declare himself cold or hot. This is a fight between God and the devil. If My Cousin wants to side with God, then he has to join me; if he prefers to side with the devil, then indeed he must fight me; there is no third way”.
(King...
