Quotes from Billiards at Half-Past Nine

“Feelings can kill such good hard things as love and hate.”
― Heinrich Böll, quote from Billiards at Half-Past Nine

“ - Хочешь, я сделаю тебя агнцем божьим в моей новой религии? Ты будешь знаменит и богат, они падут пред тобой ниц в ещё более шикарных отелях, чем этот. Ты, видно, новичок и плохо знаешь людей - их скуку можно разогнать только какой-нибудь новой религией, и чем глупее, тем лучше, - нет, убирайся, ты слишком глуп”
― Heinrich Böll, quote from Billiards at Half-Past Nine

“... Obviously you're all quite used to the faces. But I'm beginning to wish I were back among my poor old harmless lunatics. Are you all blind, then? So easily fooled? Don't you see they'd kill you all for less than a gesture, for less than a sandwich? You needn't even be dark-haired or blond anymore, or show your grandmother's birth certificate. They'd kill you if they just didn't like your faces. Didn't you see the posters on the wall? Are you blind? You just don't know anymore where you are ... Respectable, respectable. I'm scared, old man-- I've never felt such a stranger among people, not even in 1935 and not in 1942. Maybe I do need time, but even centuries wouldn't be enough to get me used to their faces. Respectable, respectable, without a trace of grief. What's a human being without grief?”
― Heinrich Böll, quote from Billiards at Half-Past Nine

“Feelings can even kill such good hard things as love and hate.”
― Heinrich Böll, quote from Billiards at Half-Past Nine

“And, before long, he'd got fat and his stall was decked out with chrome and plate glass, and glittering automats had been installed. Getting hog-fat on pfennigs, getting bossy though only a few months before he'd been forced to obsequiously lower the price of a lemonade by two pfennigs, meanwhile whispering anxiously, 'But don't tell anyone else.'
No feelings would come to him as he went rocking on in No. 11 through the old town, the new town, past allotment gardens and gravel pits to Blessenfeld. He had heard the names of the stops four thousand times: Boisserée Street, North Park, Bleisscher Station, Inner Ring. They sounded strange, the names, as if out of dreams which others had dreamed and vainly tried to let him share; they sounded like calls for help in a heavy fog, while the almost empty streetcar went on toward the end of the line in the afternoon summer sun.”
― Heinrich Böll, quote from Billiards at Half-Past Nine

“... No, I think I just wanted to laugh at them and tell them at the end: it wasn't really serious.”
― Heinrich Böll, quote from Billiards at Half-Past Nine

“I'll give that boy the farm Heinrich couldn't take. Write me his name and address on a coaster. All the most important messages are sent on beer mats...”
― Heinrich Böll, quote from Billiards at Half-Past Nine

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.