Oliver Pötzsch > Quotes

“Life went on, despite all the dying.”
― Oliver Potzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“And all because of a mistaken concept of compassion!”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“If you want to know who is responsible for anything, ask who benefits from it.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“Say what you like: God is just, after all.”
― Oliver Potzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“It’s the wrong people that suffer, not the poor.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“In the past few years, genealogical research has become increasingly popular. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is that we are trying, in a world of increasing complexity, to create a simpler and more understandable place for ourselves. No longer do we grow up in large families. We feel increasingly estranged, replaceable, and ephemeral. Genealogy gives us a feeling of immortality. The individual dies; the family lives on.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“When he dipped into the mysteries of nature, he was sure that there must be a God. Who else could create such lovely works of art? Man's inventions could only ape those of his Creator. On the other hand, it was the same God who ensured that people died like flies, carried off by plague and war. It was difficult in such times to believe in God, but Jakob Kuisl discovered Him in the beauties of nature.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“That’s the way people are: what they don’t understand is the work of the devil.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Poisoned Pilgrim

“Sometimes belief is the best potion.”
― Oliver Potzsch, The Dark Monk

“The nicest people can look like beasts, and the evilest of people sometimes have the faces of angels. Never rely on outward appearances.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Werewolf of Bamberg

“The poor die on flea-infested straw, and the rich on down pillows, Simon thought. But no matter where they are, people die. Death makes no exceptions.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Poisoned Pilgrim

“The hangman, a friend of humanity--who would have thought it?”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“The world is so beautiful, he thought. Why are the people in it so cruel?”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Poisoned Pilgrim

“I believe in evil, but not in ghosts. Only we humans can be evil; we don’t need ghosts for that.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Poisoned Pilgrim

“The hangman looked through the glass at a heap of yellow stars, which were glittering in the light of the tallow candle. Crystals like snow, each one perfect in its form and arrangement. Jakob Kuisl smiled. When he dipped into the mysteries of nature, he was sure that there must be a God. Who else could create such lovely works of art? Man’s inventions could only ape those of his Creator. On the other hand, it was the same God who ensured that people died like flies, carried off by plague and war. It was difficult in such times to believe in God, but Jakob Kuisl discovered Him in the beauties of nature.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“because a rumor is like smoke. It will spread, it will seep through closed doors and latched shutters, and in the end the whole town will smell of it.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“There are always several versions of the truth; we all fix on the one we need.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Ludwig Conspiracy

“His love for this girl was so strong now, at this moment, that he would readily give up everything for her.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“I always loved animals more than people. Their souls are good—without malice or hatred.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Werewolf of Bamberg

“Food, drink, love… There are some things one doesn’t scrimp on.” Magdalena”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Beggar King

“Voltaire once said? ‘History is the lie commonly agreed upon.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Ludwig Conspiracy

“Jakob Kuisl loved peace and quiet, and nothing was as peaceful as a winter evening after it had snowed all day. It felt as if the snow had swallowed up every sound, leaving emptiness that overcame any thoughts, worries, strivings—leaving only space for quiet meditation.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Dark Monk

“I love Bavaria. If the country didn’t exist, we Yanks would have to invent it.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Ludwig Conspiracy

“Do you understand, Jakob?” the apothecary whispered. “This isn’t war; this is worse. The war was fought according to bloody rules, but faith is like a mad beast—once it’s broken out, it can no longer be controlled.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Poisoned Pilgrim

“A roll of thunder signaled another rain shower passing over the town. Simon pulled Magdalena close and kissed her until, locked in a tight embrace, they sank to the ground in a puddle of blood, mud, and horse piss. A small bundle of humanity in the midst of the thundering downpour.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Beggar King

“I tell my seven-year-old son about his remarkable forefathers. I leave out the bloody details. (For him these people are like knights, which sounds better than hangmen or executioners.) In his bedroom hangs a collage made up of photos of long-dead family members--great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, their aunts, their uncles, their nephews and nieces..Sometimes at night he wants to hear stories about these people, and I tell him what I know about them. Happy stories, sad stories, frightening stories. For him the family is a safe refuge, a link binding him to many people whom he loves and who love him. I once heard that everyone on this earth is at least distantly related to everyone else. Somehow this is a comforting idea.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“I think God means well with us. Sometimes he shows us a different path, but that doesn’t necessarily mean happiness lies at the end of it. That’s for us to find out.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Council of Twelve

“instead?” “Maybe because it’s pleasant to leaf through books, smell them, sleep with books beside you?” Steven said. “Because books are like nourishment for oddballs like me, and I’ve always had them around me?”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Ludwig Conspiracy

“These women with their feminine wisdom had always been suspect to men. They knew potions and herbs; they touched women in indecent spots; and they knew how to get rid of the fruit of the womb, that gift of God. Many midwives had been burned as witches by men.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Hangman's Daughter

“He was the greatest magician of his time, and a con artist, astrologer, and charlatan. He was as clever and learned as a dozen scholars and as cunning as the Borgias”
― Oliver Pötzsch, The Master's Apprentice: A Retelling of the Faust Legend