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.

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.

I dream, therefore I exist.

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

Some people seem to be born to suffer.

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

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

Silence hides nothing. Words conceal.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

When is revolution legal? When it succeeds!

Sometimes not seeing things can be a blessing.

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

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.

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

Necessity knows no rules.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

Friendship can only exist between persons with similar interests and points of view. Man and woman by the conventions of society are born with different interests and different points of view.

I, too, am beginning to feel an immense need to become a savage and create a new world.

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

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.

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

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

He saw the cause of his unhappiness in the family--the family as a social institution, which does not permit the child to become an independent individual at the proper time.

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

In the old days, one married a wife; now one forms a company with a female partner, or moves in to live with a friend. And then one seduces the partner, or defiles the friend.

It's risky to take anything on good faith where a woman is concerned.

The further from one another, the nearer one can be.