Quotes from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“To me the Zionists, who want to go back to the Jewish state of A.D. 70 (destruction of Jerusalem by Titus) are just as offensive as the Nazis. With their nosing after blood, their ancient "cultural roots," their partly canting, partly obtuse winding back of the world they are altogether a match for the National Socialists. That is the fantastic thing about the National Socialists, that they simultaneously share in a community of ideas with Soviet Russia and with Zion.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“In the war I was subject to military law, but subject to law nevertheless; now I am at the mercy of an arbitrary power.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“Their opinion: If at the cost of going backwards internally, he restores Germany’s power externally, then this cost is worth while. Conditions at home can always be made good later – politics is just not a clean business. [. . .]”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“That is the fantastic thing about the National Socialists, that they simultaneously share in a community of ideas with Soviet Russia and with Zion.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“I changed Lessing’s35 words – Anyone who does not lose his reason over certain things, has no reason – into: Anyone whose heart remains calm today, has no heart.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“That the door fell shut, that the latch fell into place, did I know it with a nameless fear. At that second the eight days turned into 192 hours, empty caged hours.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“Head held high for the difficult last five minutes!”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“I am German forever, German 'nationalist'. The nazis are un-German.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“Newspapers are read differently now [. . .] Between the lines.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“Very quiet and yet quieter living-for-ourselves.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“....the regional mental asylum. The SS is in charge. They have built a special crematorium. Those who are not wanted are taken up in a kind of police van.People here call it "the whispering coach". The relatives receive the urn. Recently one family here received two urns at once.
- We now have pure communism. But communism murders more honestly.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“Socialism has now become completely or almost completely identical with Bolshevism; that”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“We are completely isolated. We have heard nothing from Annemarie Kohler, nothing from Johannes Kohler for weeks.......A frightening silence.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“Curious:
At the very moment modern technology annuls all frontiers and distances
(flying, wireless, television, economic interdependance),
the most extreme nationalism is raging.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“We had a friendly conversation, the man shook my hand, told me to keep my spirits up........ The next day......He stared ahead as he went past, as much a stranger as possible. In his behaviour the man probably represents 79 million Germans.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“They have over-cultivated national rhetoric [. . .] they will have to undertake something.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“I must make notes even now, I must, no matter how dangerous it is. That is my professional courage.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“I only have the quite childish horror of the grave and of nothingness”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“Does one unceasingly talk about a thousand years and enemies destroyed, if one is certain of these thousand years and this annihilation?”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“They've made a peace treaty of their own',
Eva used to say, when we passed an illuminated window.
(In reference to the strict German laws on light blackouts.)”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“We hear a lot about Palestine now; it does not appeal to us. Anyone who goes there exchanges nationalism and narrowness for nationalism and narrowness.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“No victorious revolution without an idea. Certainly!
But just as certainly:
It is not the idea which makes a revolution, but privation which causes it to break out.
And once under way, it deviates from the idea.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“I am not a dictator, I have only simplified democracy.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“The banal perception
- all the most profound perceptions are banal,
at most one man finds a somewhat more original expression for it than another man
- that we know nothing at all except what we have experienced ourselves.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“I believe the pogroms of November '38 made less impression on the nation than cutting the bar of chocolate for Christmas.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“Pity is such a shabby thing. I can torment myself with wanting to feel pity, and yet I don't succeed.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

“In a pharmacy toothpaste with a swastika. A mood of fear such as must have existed in France under the Jacobins. No one fears for their lives yet--but for bread and freedom.”
― Victor Klemperer, quote from I Will Bear Witness 1933-41 A Diary of the Nazi Years

About the author

Popular quotes

“To love is easy and therefore common - but to understand - how rare it is!”
― L.M. Montgomery, quote from Emily of New Moon

“When I was twelve, my parents had two talks with me.

One was the usual birds and bees. Well, I didn't really get the usual version. My mom, Lisa, is a registered nurse, and she told me what went where, and what didn't need to go here, there, or any damn where till I'm grown. Back then, I doubted anything was going anywhere anyway. While all the other girls sprouted breasts between sixth and seventh grade, my chest was as flat as my back.

The other talk was about what to do if a cop stopped me.

Momma fussed and told Daddy I was too young for that. He argued that I wasn't too young to get arrested or shot.

"Starr-Starr, you do whatever they tell you to do," he said. "Keep your hands visible. Don't make any sudden moves. Only speak when they speak to you."

I knew it must've been serious. Daddy has the biggest mouth of anybody I know, and if he said to be quiet, I needed to be quiet.

I hope somebody had the talk with Khalil.”
― Angie Thomas, quote from The Hate U Give

“Gundar's smile broadened at the memory of that evening as he recalled how his rough-and-tumble sailors had stayed on their best manners, humbly asking their table companions to pass the meat, please, or requesting just a little more ale in their drinking mugs. These were men who were accustomed to cursing heartily, tearing legs off roast boar wih their bare hands and occasionally swilling ale straight from the keg. Their attempts at mingling with polite society would have made the basis of some great stories back in Skandia.”
― John Flanagan, quote from The Siege of Macindaw

“You know,” he says, “for someone who doesn’t like touching people, you keep finding ways to put your hands on me.”
― Victoria Schwab, quote from The Archived

“He has the special quality of virginity, most and least ambiguous of states: ignorance, yet at the same time, power in potentia, and, furthermore, unknowingness, which is not the same as ignorance.”
― Angela Carter, quote from The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

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.