Gunter Grass Quotes

Powerful Gunter Grass for Daily Growth

About Gunter Grass

Günter Grass (July 16, 1927 – April 13, 2015) was a renowned German author and artist, best known for his novel "The Tin Drum," which won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999. Born in Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland), Grass spent his early life in the Free City of Danzig before it was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1939. This formative period greatly influenced his work, with themes of German identity and responsibility during World War II recurring throughout his literary career. Grass served as a soldier in the German navy during the war but was discharged in 1945 due to an injury. After the war, he studied graphic art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin-Charlottenburg, which provided him with a unique perspective on visual storytelling that would later manifest in his written works. In 1954, Grass published his first novel, "The Search," followed by "The Tin Drum" in 1959, which became an international sensation. The novel's anti-hero, Oskar Matzerath, uses his magical drum to stop growing at age three as a form of protest against the adult world and its dark secrets. This work, along with later novels like "Cat and Mouse," "Dog Years," and "Crabwalk," established Grass as a powerful voice in German literature, addressing complex political and social issues while maintaining a distinctive narrative style. Grass was also an active peace activist and a member of the Social Democratic Party. In 2006, he caused controversy when he admitted that he had served in the Waffen-SS during the final days of World War II – a revelation that challenged his longstanding image as a critical voice against Nazi Germany. Despite this controversy, Grass's contributions to literature and art will continue to be celebrated for generations to come.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is."

This quote by Gunter Grass suggests that every person harbors an aspect of themselves which they may not fully acknowledge or accept - a "shadow" made up of hidden fears, desires, or qualities that are considered unacceptable by societal norms or personal values. The less these unconscious aspects are acknowledged and integrated into one's conscious life, the more powerful and potentially destructive they can become. The quote encourages introspection and self-awareness to help individuals embrace their entire selves in a balanced and healthy manner.

"Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn."

This quote suggests that life (or existence) is a continuous learning process, where 'time' serves as both the classroom and the crucible for personal growth. In other words, we learn from our experiences over time, just as a piece of metal is shaped and refined by heat in a fire. The challenges and opportunities encountered throughout life shape us, making us wiser, stronger, and ultimately, more valuable.

"The dead live on in stories that are told about them."

This quote by Gunter Grass underscores the enduring nature of memory and storytelling in human culture. He suggests that even after a person's physical demise, they continue to exist in the narratives built around their life and actions. Stories about the dead serve as a connection to our past, preserving individual identities, values, and experiences for future generations. These tales not only reflect the complexity of human lives but also contribute to shaping our collective identity and understanding of the world.

"The more one delves into the past, the more one finds nothing but guilt and sin."

Gunter Grass's quote suggests that when we explore our past, we often uncover actions or events with negative connotations, such as guilt and sin. It implies a sense of regret for historical actions and an acknowledgment that humanity has made mistakes in the past. However, it also highlights the importance of learning from these experiences to prevent repeating them in the future.

"Art is like a borderline disease: it can never be cured, but it can be kept under control."

This quote suggests that creativity, like certain conditions or afflictions, is an inherent and incurable part of human nature (borderline disease). The artist's role is not to be healed from this creative impulse but rather to manage and channel it effectively. Art, thus, requires constant care and attention to ensure it doesn't consume the artist or become detrimental, just as a medical condition needs treatment to prevent worsening symptoms. In other words, the artist's task is not to escape their creative nature, but to control and cultivate it responsibly.

I'm always astonished by a forest. It makes me realise that the fantasy of nature is much larger than my own fantasy. I still have things to learn.

- Gunter Grass

Forest, Always, Larger, My Own

People change with time. There are things that happened to a person in his childhood and years later they seem to him alien and strange. I am trying to decipher that child. Sometimes he is a stranger to me. When you think about when you were 14, don't you feel a certain alienation?

- Gunter Grass

Sometimes, Feel, About, Alienation

Art is uncompromising and life is full of compromises.

- Gunter Grass

Life, Art, Uncompromising, Compromises

How do we prevent Iran developing an atomic bomb, when, on the American side, dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not recognised as a war crime?

- Gunter Grass

Side, Iran, Bombs, Dropping

If we take into account the existence of our planet, we have to recognise that we are guests that spend a short and very determined period in this world, and all we leave behind is nuclear waste.

- Gunter Grass

Behind, Waste, Very, Guests

For me, writing, drawing, and political activism are three separate pursuits; each has its own intensity. I happen to be especially attuned to and engaged with the society in which I live. Both my writing and my drawing are invariably mixed up with politics, whether I want them to be or not.

- Gunter Grass

Politics, Engaged, Separate, Attuned

We cannot get by Auschwitz. We should not even try, as great as the temptation is, because Auschwitz belongs to us, is branded into our history, and - to our benefit! - has made possible an insight that could be summarized as, 'Now we finally know ourselves.'

- Gunter Grass

We Cannot, Our, Ourselves, Branded

As a child I was a great liar. Fortunately my mother liked my lies. I promised her marvelous things.

- Gunter Grass

Great, Promised, Liked, Marvelous

When I am working on an epic-length book, the writing process is fairly long. It takes from four to five years to get through all the drafts. The book is done when I am exhausted.

- Gunter Grass

Book, Process, Through, Writing Process

I catch myself judging myself as that 13-year-old boy, who, of course, rightfully points out that he is only a child. And my membership - well, I was drafted into the Waffen-SS and didn't exactly volunteer, which was just as idiotic. I wanted to be on the submarines and then ended up with the Waffen-SS.

- Gunter Grass

Boy, Points, Rightfully, Membership

Melancholy has ceased to be an individual phenomenon, an exception. It has become the class privilege of the wage earner, a mass state of mind that finds its cause wherever life is governed by production quotas.

- Gunter Grass

Mind, Exception, Earner, Wherever

How did it happen that an enlightened country like Germany was pulled into Nazism? That question has occupied me since 'The Tin Drum,' my first book. The story also shows that we can never know how a person's life will unfold; there is no guarantee that a person will do what is right and avoid what is not right.

- Gunter Grass

Book, Country, Germany, Tin

I can only write a book like 'The Tin Drum' or 'From the Diary of a Snail' at a special period of my life. The books came about because of how I felt and thought at the time.

- Gunter Grass

My Life, Snail, Period, Tin

I remember when I was writing 'The Tin Drum,' I had the totally misguided idea of giving Oskar Matzerath a sister, and he just wouldn't have it. There was no space for a sister, yet I had the character of the sister in my head. In fact I used her in later novels, in 'Cat and Mouse' and 'Dog Years,' Tulla Pokriski.

- Gunter Grass

Fact, I Remember, Idea, Tin

In general, I agree with Jacob Grimm and feel that we ought to permit changes and uncontrolled growth in language. Even though that also allows potentially threatening new words to develop, language needs the chance to constantly renew itself.

- Gunter Grass

Changes, Feel, Threatening, Uncontrolled

If work and leisure are soon to be subordinated to this one utopian principle - absolute busyness - then utopia and melancholy will come to coincide: an age without conflict will dawn, perpetually busy - and without consciousness.

- Gunter Grass

Soon, Without, Principle, Utopian

I belonged to the generation that grew up under National Socialism, and was blinded and led astray - and allowed itself to be led astray.

- Gunter Grass

Generation, Allowed, Led, Astray

I had an uncle who was a postal official at the Polish post office in Gdansk. He was one of the defenders of the Polish postal service and, after it capitulated, was shot by the Germans under the provisions of martial law. Suddenly he was no longer a member of the family, and we were no longer allowed to play with his children.

- Gunter Grass

Play, Uncle, Allowed, Post Office

I was brought up Catholic and know the stench of the Catholic Church. I moved away from religion early, but the impression remains.

- Gunter Grass

Church, Away, Brought, Catholic Church

The European Union arose on an economic foundation, and it turns out that even this is not a solid base. Cultural identity has been neglected.

- Gunter Grass

Been, Solid, European, Economic

Everyone is born into a certain era. I wouldn't want to see anyone faced with the circumstances that prevailed at the time, when there were few or no alternatives.

- Gunter Grass

Circumstances, Prevailed, Faced

Writers know that sometimes things are there in the drawer for decades before they finally come out and you are capable of writing about them.

- Gunter Grass

Sometimes, Finally, Before, Decades

Information networks straddle the world. Nothing remains concealed. But the sheer volume of information dissolves the information. We are unable to take it all in.

- Gunter Grass

Nothing, Networks, Remains, Concealed

It is a wonderful thing in the process of writing when such paper characters are first sketched, and, when one is doing good work, from a certain point in time they come alive and start contradicting the author as well.

- Gunter Grass

Good Work, Doing, Alive, Doing Good

I have seen and drawn dying, poisoned worlds. I published a book of drawings called 'Death of Wood' about one such world, on the border between the Federal Republic of Germany and what was then still the German Democratic Republic.

- Gunter Grass

Death, German, Worlds, Wood

I did not volunteer for the Waffen SS, but was, as were thousands of my year group, conscripted. I did not then know as a 17-year-old that it was a criminal unit. I thought it was an elite unit.

- Gunter Grass

Thought, Year, SS, Criminal

My relationship with Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm reaches far back into my childhood. I grew up with Grimm's fairy tales. I even saw a theater production of 'Tom Thumb' during Advent at the State Theater in Danzig, which my mother took me to see.

- Gunter Grass

Back, Production, Thumb, Tales

Memory likes to play hide-and-seek, to crawl away. It tends to hold forth, to dress up, often needlessly. Memory contradicts itself; pedant that it is, it will have its way.

- Gunter Grass

Memory, Dress, Play, Crawl

No idea stays pure. Even the flowering of art isn't pure. And the sun has spots.

- Gunter Grass

Art, Stays, Even, Spots

Everybody knows how fallible memory can sometimes be. You remember certain fragments precisely, but as soon as you try to join the fragments together, for a story, there is a certain - not falsification, but a shifting.

- Gunter Grass

Memory, Sometimes, Everybody, Fragments

I was assigned to the Waffen-SS but was never involved in any crime. Besides, I always felt the need to write about my experiences in a larger context one day. This has only developed recently, now that I have overcome my inner aversion to writing an autobiography in the first place, specifically one having to do with my younger years.

- Gunter Grass

One Day, Larger, About, Specifically

Art is so wonderfully irrational, exuberantly pointless, but necessary all the same. Pointless and yet necessary, that's hard for a puritan to understand.

- Gunter Grass

Art, Pointless, Necessary, Puritan

Auschwitz speaks against even a right to self-determination that is enjoyed by all other peoples because one of the preconditions for the horror, besides other, older urges, was a strong and united Germany.

- Gunter Grass

Strong, Other, Horror, Besides

Art is accusation, expression, passion. Art is a fight to the finish between black charcoal and white paper.

- Gunter Grass

Art, Accusation, Expression, Between

Our minds aren't bound by a chronological corset. When thinking and dreaming, past, present and future are mixed up. That's also possible for a writer.

- Gunter Grass

Past, Dreaming, Bound, Corset

My sister and I did not have our own rooms, or even a place to ourselves. In the living room, beyond the two windows, was a little corner where my books were kept, and other thing - my watercolors and so on. Often I had to imagine the things I needed. I learned very early to read amidst noise.

- Gunter Grass

Other, Very, Rooms, Early

Lies that do not hurt, which are different from lies that protect oneself or hurt another person. That is not my business. But the truth is mostly very boring, and you can help it along with lies. There is no harm in that.

- Gunter Grass

Very, Which, Mostly, Protect

Often I had to imagine the things I needed. I learned very early to read amidst noise. And so I started writing and drawing at an early age.

- Gunter Grass

Very, Imagine, Read, Early Age

Over the years, I had something in principle against autobiographical writing altogether because memory plays tricks on us, and we also tend to reinvent ourselves. But there comes an age when one begins to observe life, and there are things that need time to mature, also in terms of literary form.

- Gunter Grass

Memory, Reinvent, Principle, Tricks

I have often supported Israel, I have often visited the country and want the country to exist and at last find peace with its neighbours.

- Gunter Grass

Country, Exist, Last, Visited

I've always been surrounded by children - never bothered by their noise.

- Gunter Grass

Never, Always, Been, Noise

What I do is sometimes - at least in Germany - met with wounding campaigns. I always face the question: should I grow myself a thick skin and ignore it, or should I let myself be wounded? I've decided to be wounded, since, if I grew a thick skin, there are other things I wouldn't feel any more.

- Gunter Grass

Sometimes, Other, Germany, Thick

A writer must face up to the test of reality, including political reality, and that can't be done if he keeps his distance. A literary style cultivated like a hothouse plant may show a certain artificial purity, but it won't really be pure.

- Gunter Grass

Distance, Purity, Literary, Keeps

I don't believe in writing at night because it comes too easily. When I read it in the morning it's not good. I need daylight to begin. Between nine and ten o'clock I have a long breakfast with reading and music.

- Gunter Grass

Good, Believe, Nine, Daylight

I have heard my fill of hurtful words. I think it's especially egregious when citizens like me, who point out abuses in their country, are referred to as 'do-gooders.' This is how a phrase that can be used to stop an argument dead becomes part of common usage.

- Gunter Grass

Country, Argument, I Think, Citizens

I have found that words that are loaded with pathos and create a seductive euphoria are apt to promote nonsense.

- Gunter Grass

Seductive, Loaded, Pathos, Promote

Even bad books are books and therefore sacred.

- Gunter Grass

Bad, Books, Even, Therefore

I think it's a shame that we have 'Bild' like you have the 'Sun'. Now serious newspapers like 'FAZ' and 'Spiegel' use a bit of the tone of 'Bild.' This is terrible.

- Gunter Grass

Think, Shame, I Think, Newspapers

We already have the statistics for the future: the growth percentages of pollution, overpopulation, desertification. The future is already in place.

- Gunter Grass

Future, Overpopulation, Statistics

Prose, poetry, and drawings stand side by side in a very democratic way in my work.

- Gunter Grass

Prose, Very, Side, Drawings

With drawing, I am acutely aware of creating something on a sheet of paper. It is a sensual act, which you cannot say about the act of writing. In fact, I often turn to drawing to recover from the writing.

- Gunter Grass

Fact, Sensual, Which, Sheet

The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open.

- Gunter Grass

Citizen, Keep, His, Mouth

Homeland is something one becomes aware of only through its loss.

- Gunter Grass

Loss, Through, Aware, Homeland

Believing: it means believing in our own lies. And I can say that I am grateful that I got this lesson very early.

- Gunter Grass

Grateful, Very, Means, Lies

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