August Strindberg Quotes

Not everyone is capable of madness; and of those lucky enough to be capable, not many have the courage for it.

A man with a so-called character is often a simple piece of mechanism; he has often only one point of view for the extremely complicated relationships of life.

The hood-winked husband shows his anger, and the word jealous is flung in his face. Jealous husband equals betrayed husband. And there are women who look upon jealousy as synonymous with impotence, so that the betrayed husband can only shut his eyes, powerless in the face of such accusations.

By attempting the impossible one can attain the highest level of the possible.

I prefer silence. Then you can hear thoughts and see into the past. In silence you can’t hide anything … as you can in words.

There are poisons that blind you, and poisons that open your eyes.

I dream, therefore I exist.

Some people seem to be born to suffer.

No matter how far we travel, the memories will follow in the baggage car.

Now I know the full power of evil. It makes ugliness seem beautiful and goodness seem ugly and weak.

Religion must be a punishment, because nobody gets religion who does not have a bad conscience.

Silence hides nothing. Words conceal.

if you are afraid of loneliness, don't get married

The world, life and human beings are only an illusion, a phantom, a dream image.

I find my joy of living in the fierce and ruthless battles of life, and my pleasure comes from learning something.

That is the thankless position of the father in the family-the provider for all, and the enemy of all.

Society is a madhouse whose wardens are the officials and the police.

People who keep dogs are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves.

When is revolution legal? When it succeeds!

The will ... is the driving force of the mind. If it's injured, the mind falls to pieces.

Everything can happen, everything is possible and probable. Time and place do not exist; on a significant bases of reality, the imagination spins, weaving new patterns; a mixture of memories, experiences, free fancies, incongruities and improvisations.

What is economics? A science invented by the upper class in order to acquire the fruits of the labor of the underclass

I love her and she loves me, and we hate each other with a wild hatred born of love.

Sometimes not seeing things can be a blessing.

What people call success is only preparation for the next failure.

I do not care about my own appearance, but I would hope that people could see into my soul, and that is presented better in these photographs than in others. (On his self-portraits)

I hated her now with a hatred more fatal than indifference because it was the other side of love.

Necessity knows no rules.

There comes a moment... When imagination gives out and Reality leaps forth. It is frightful!

Happiness consumes itself like a flame. It cannot burn for ever, it must go out, and the presentiment of its end destroys it at its very peak.

Life is not so idiotically mathematical that only the big eat the small; it is just as common for a bee to kill a lion or at least to drive it mad.

Love between a man and woman is war.

On the much revered family of North American mythology - and a metaphor for the Ruling Alliance: Sacred family! .... The supposed home of all the virtues, where innocent children are tortured into their first falsehoods, where wills are broken by parental tyranny, and self-respect smothered by crowded, jostling egos.

Growing old-it's not nice, but it's interesting.

When I free my body from its clothes, from all their buttons, belts, and laces, it seems to me that my soul takes a deeper, freer breath.

I see the playwright as a lay preacher peddling the ideas of his time in popular form.

Those who won't accept evil never get anything good.

I've thought of becoming a photographer! To save my talent as a writer.

When people refuse to speak out for too long, it's like water that's stagnant and starts to rot!

People are constantly clamoring for the joy of life. As for me, I find the joy of life in the hard and cruel battle of life - to learn something is a joy to me.

Family . . . the home of all social evil, a charitable institution for comfortable women, an anchorage for house-fathers, and a hell for children.

Meeting each other and leaving each other. Leaving and meeting. That's what life is!

When people drink, they talk, and talk is dangerous!

What an occupation! To sit and flay your fellow men and then offer their skins for sale and expect them to buy them.

God preserve us from writers who regurgitate what they have learnt from books! It is people's secrets we want to know - it is the natural history of the human heart that we have been trying to put down for a thousand years and everyone must and can leave their contribution.

Oh, I have loved him too much to feel no hate for him.

Some people have accused my tragedy of being too sad, as though one desired a merry tragedy. People clamor for Enjoyment as though Enjoyment consisted in being foolish. I find enjoyment in the powerful and terrible struggles of life; and the capability of experiencing something, of learning something, gives me pleasure.

Sorrow has the fortunate peculiarity that it preys upon itself. It dies of starvation. Since it is essentially an interruption of habits, it can be replaced by new habits. Constituting, as it does, a void, it is soon filled up by a real horror vacuum.

It's wonderful how, the moment you talk about God and love, your voice becomes hard, and your eyes fill with hatred. No, Margret, you certainly haven't the true faith.

I always disliked dogs, those protectors of cowards who lack the courage to fight an assailant themselves.