Thomas Mann — Quote from Essays of Three Decades
“A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
Essays of Three Decades (1947)
Concepts: authenticity, praxis, meaning
Resonant Quotes
- “Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep ...” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment Mann and Dostoevsky both identify suffering as the inevitable price of heightened consciousness—whether in the writer...
- “For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of al...” — Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet Mann's insight that authentic calling involves heightened difficulty finds perfect resonance in Rilke's vision of lov...
- “I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to...” — Simone de Beauvoir, The Prime of Life Both quotes reveal how creative souls are distinguished by their heightened sensitivity to difficulty and desire—Mann...
- “I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I...” — Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali Both quotes capture the artist's paradox of perpetual preparation and difficulty—Mann's writer struggling more than o...
- “The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is ...” — George Orwell, Reflections on Gandhi Both quotes locate human authenticity in struggle and imperfection rather than ease or flawless achievement, suggesti...
- “Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder why, why, why? ...” — Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle Mann's writer struggling with language mirrors Vonnegut's human condemned to seek understanding—both capture the dist...
- “I have no idea what's awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. Fo...” — Albert Camus, The Plague Mann's writer struggling with difficulty and Camus's doctor focusing on immediate need despite uncertainty both embod...
- “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One m...” — Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus Both quotes find dignity and meaning in difficulty itself—Camus in the eternal struggle, Mann in the writer's particu...