"In history as in human life, regret does not bring back a lost moment and a thousand years will not recover something lost in a single hour."
"There are two types of compassion. One - is faint-hearted and sentimental. Actually, it is nothing more than impatience of the heart, that is hurrying to get rid of that hard feeling when you see other peoples' sufferings; this is not a compassion, but just an instinct will to defence yourself from misfortunes of others. But there is another compassion - real one, that demands for actions, not sentiments, it knows what it wants, and it is full of determination to do everything, what is in human power and even beyond it."
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Source: Stefan Zweig (2008). “The Post-office Girl”, New York Review of Books
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"Time to leave now, get out of this room, go somewhere, anywhere; sharpen this feeling of happiness and freedom, stretch your limbs, fill your eyes, be awake, wider awake, vividly awake in every sense and every pore."
"Truth to tell, we are all criminals if we remain silent."
"It is never until one realizes that one means something to others that one feels there is any point or purpose in one's own existence."
"Freedom is not possible without authority - otherwise it would turn into chaos and authority is not possible without freedom - otherwise it would turn into tyranny."
"All I know is that I shall be alone again. There is nothing more terrible than to be alone among human beings."