“ They waited awhile before lighting the candles; the gloom allowed the past to slip cozily into the present. But the memories were of a time that was gone and didn't overshadow the present. But the mem… Bernhard Schlink
“ I could never stop comparing the way it was with Gertrud and the way it had been with Hanna; again and again, Gertrud and I would hold each other, and I would feel that something was wrong, that she w… Bernhard Schlink
“ I can't say I'm thankful about being German because I sometimes experience it as a huge burden. But it is an integral part of me and I wouldn't want to escape it. I have accepted it. Bernhard Schlink
“ Why does what was beautiful shatter in hindsight because it concealed dark truths? Bernhard Schlink
“ As I looked and looked, the living face became visible in the dead, the young in the old. This is what must happen to old married couples, I thought: the young man is preserved in the old one for her,… Bernhard Schlink
“ Did my moral upbrining somehow turn against itself? If looking at someone with desire was as bad as satisfying the desire, if having an active fantasy was as bad as the act you were fantasizing- then… Bernhard Schlink
“ People ask all the time what I learned in the camps. But the camps weren’t therapy. What do you think these places were? Universities? We didn’t go there to learn. One becomes very clear about these t… Bernhard Schlink
“ But the finger I pointed at her turned back to me. I had loved her. Not only had I loved her, I had chosen her. Bernhard Schlink
“ Exploration! Exploring the past! We students in the camps seminar considered ourselves radical explorers. We tore open the windows and let in the air, the wind that finally whirled away the dust that… Bernhard Schlink
“ What should our second generation have done, what should it do with the knowledge of the horrors of the extermination of the Jews? We should not believe we can comprehend the incomprehensible, we may… Bernhard Schlink
“ The Odyssey is the story of motion both purposeful and purposeless, successful and futile. What else is the history of law? Bernhard Schlink
“ It is as if people refused to leave their dead alone, forced them back into the light, made them keep their composure even in death. Bernhard Schlink
“ What is law? Is it what is on the books, or what is actually enacted and obeyed in a society? Or is law what must be enacted and obeyed, whether or not it is on the books, if things are to go right? Bernhard Schlink
“ Does everyone feel this way? When I was young, I was perpetually overconfident or insecure. Either I felt completely useless, unattractive, and worthless, or that I was pretty much a success, and ever… Bernhard Schlink
“ When he answered, he went all the way back to beginnings. He instructed me about the individual, about freedom and dignity, about the human being as subject and the fact that one may not turn him into… Bernhard Schlink
“ Is that what makes me sad? The eagerness and belief that filled me then and exacted a pledge from life that life could never fulfill? Bernhard Schlink
“ Is this what sadness is all about? Is it what comes over us when beautiful memories shatter in hindsight because the remembered happiness fed not just on actual circumstances but on a promise that was… Bernhard Schlink
