Quotes from Zweig, Stefan

Only in youth does coincidence seem the same as fate. Later, we know that the real course of our lives is decided within us; our paths may seem to diverge from our wishes in a confused and pointless way, but in the end the way always leads us to our invisible destination.

As everyone knows, it is a thousand times easier to reconstruct the facts of what happened at a certain time than its intellectual atmosphere. The atmosphere is reflected not in official events but, most conspicuously, in small, personal episodes...

But society is always most cruel to those who betray its secretes, showing where it's dishonesty commits a crime against nature.

No hay cosa más insoportable que pasar toda una vida obsesionada por un solo punto, por un solo día de existencia

Usted no encuentra, pues, odioso, despreciable, que una mujer abandone a su marido y a sus hijas para seguir a un hombre cualquiera, del que nada sabe, ni siquiera si es digno de su amor? ¿Puede usted realmente excusar una conducta tan atolondrada y liviana en una mujer que, además, no es ya una jovencita y que siquiera por amor a sus hijas hubiese debido preocuparse de su propia dignidad?