abstract art

adultery

beauty

clothing

collaboration

democracy

desire

doing

emotion

endurance

genius

health

ideology

intellect

irrational

love

mathematics

mentally illness

modern man

novel

philosopher

progress

reading

reason

religious

soul

still life

stupidity

thinking

truth

writing

nationality

Austrian

occupation / innovator as

novelist

librarian

playwright

essayist

cause of death

natural causes

screenwriter

religion

Catholicism

World War I

engineer

is a tool we employ to peel the kitsch off life and lay life bare. The farther it is removed from life, the clearer art becomes.

Is not art a tool we employ to peel the kitsch off life' Layer by layer art strips life bare. The more abstract it gets, the more transparent the air is. Can it be that the farther it is removed from life, the clearer art becomes' Robert Musil

is not about being shaken by the ultimate value or lack of value of something, but by a side of it that suddenly opens up. It shows things that few have seen.

To love something as an artist . . . means to be shaken not by its ultimate value or lack of value, but by a side of it that suddenly opens up. Where art has value it shows things that few have seen. It's conquering, not pacifying. Robert Musil

is nothing but the expression of the fact that something is being loved.

The thought came to me that all one loves in art becomes beautiful. Beauty is nothing but the expression of the fact that something is being loved. Only thus could she be defined. Robert Musil

is nothing but strange tubes and excrescences that become enchanted when seen together with the qualities they bestow on their wearer, much like how a tangle of lines on a piece of paper becomes infused with beauty the moment it becomes a great word.

Clothes, when abstracted from the flow of present time and their transmogrifying function on the human body, and seen as forms in themselves, are strange tubes and excrescences worthy of being classed with such facial decorations as the ring through the nose or the lip-stretching disk. But how enchanting they become when seen together with the qualities they bestow on their wearer! What happens then is no less than the infusion, into some tangled lines on a piece of paper, of the meaning of a great word. Robert Musil

is synergistic. A number of flawed individuals can often add up to a brilliant social unit.

[. . . ] a number of flawed individuals can often add up to a brilliant social unit. Robert Musil

is grounded in the idea that a number of flawed individuals can often add up to a brilliant social unit.

is always less important than what we do right after we do what we do. What matters is always the next step.

The crucial thing is never what we do, but always what we do right after that. What matters is always the next step! Robert Musil

is for the most part impersonal, especially when it is strong. We lose ourselves in it. It is, in itself, poor in qualities... qualities are brought to it by the person who has the experience.

Strong emotional experiences are for the most part impersonal. Anyone who has hated another person so much that only chance stands between that person and death knows this, as does whoever has fallen into the catastrophe of a deep depression, anyone who has loved a woman to the dregs, anyone who has beaten others bloody or ever come up behind another person with muscles trembling. 'Losing one's head,' language calls it. Emotional experience is, in itself, poor in qualities... qualities are brought to it by the person who has the experience. Robert Musil

, over time, always sacrifices its ability to make an impression.

Anything that endures over time sacrifices its ability to make an impression. Robert Musil

is not 100 years ahead of his time, rather, the average man is 100 years behind it.

It's not the genius who is 100 years ahead of his time but average man who is 100 years behind it. Robert Musil

is one who never makes anything new, but always something that is just different. The average talents provide him the possibility within which his genius condenses into achievements.

. . . the genius never makes anything new, but always something that is just different, and the average talents provide him the possibility within which his genius condenses into achievements. Robert Musil

is having all the mental illnesses while mentally illness is having only one.

The difference between a healthy person and one who is mentally ill is the fact that the healthy one has all the mental illnesses, and the mentally ill person has only one. Robert Musil

is the intellectual ordering of the feelings... an objective connection among them that makes the subjective connection easier.

Ideology is: intellectual ordering of the feelings... an objective connection among them that makes the subjective connection easier. Robert Musil

is itself not the problem. We do not have too much intellect and too little soul, but too little intellect in matters of the soul.

We do not have too much intellect and too little soul, but too little intellect in matters of the soul, Robert Musil

is one of the religious and dangerous experiences, because it lifts people out of the arms of reason and sets them afloat with no ground under their feet.

. . . love must be regarded as one of the religious and dangerous experiences, because it lifts people out of the arms of reason and sets them afloat with no ground under their feet. Robert Musil

is the bold luxury of pure reason, one of the few that remain today.

Mathematics is the bold luxury of pure reason, one of the few that remain today. Robert Musil

is the source of a wicked intellect that, while making man the lord of the earth, also makes him the slave of the machine.

Mathematics is the source of a wicked intellect that, while making man the lord of the earth, also makes him the slave of the machine. Robert Musil

is having only one mental illness whereas health is having all of them.

is called upon like no other art form to incorporate the intellectual content of an age.

. . . the novel is called upon like no other art form to incorporate the intellectual content of an age. Robert Musil

is a person who does violence, but has no army at his disposal, and so subjugates the world by locking it into a system.

Philosophers are people who do violence, but have no army at their disposal, and so subjugate the world by locking it into a system. Robert Musil

Robert MusilThinkers

Robert Musil