Jiří Weil > Quotes

“We lack willpower, but we have enough will to succumb to the will of others.”
― Jiří Weil, Life with a Star

“The minister said, "Music in stone," and truly this phrase, bandied about by authors of art books, described Prague well. The city was, indeed, steeped in music and brought into harmony by it. ”
― Jiri Weil, Mendelssohn is on the Roof

“[To be a master] means that he must renounce everything personal, that he must be alone, that he must have no friends, that he must be inscrutable and inaccessible even at home among his family, even at parties and dinners. All that remains for him is music; it always helps when he feels tired; it offers peace and contentment; the tensions of the day melt away in it. He remembers listening to Beethoven's Fourth after the Night of the Long Knives, remembers how it gave him strength to carry on, to continue interrogating enemies and beating confessions out of them. The music cleansed everything that time, even the blood.”
― Jiri Weil, Mendelssohn is on the Roof

“We turned the pages impatiently, afraid it would end too soon but full of suspense”
― Jiří Weil, Life with a Star

“I knew now how happiness awoke; I knew that happiness was quiet, that it hid in crevices but could not be destroyed by shouting and whipping.”
― Jiří Weil, Life with a Star

“What about concerts and opera performances? Nowadays these bring him little pleasure [...] These people have no interest in classical music - they would much prefer operettas or films with Marika Rokk[...]
How can he possibly enjoy music under such circumstances? What good is it to invite the finest musicians and conductors of the Reich to Prague, when they must perform for such uneducated audience, who applaud only dutifully and never with enthusiasm. And, of course, the artists sense this immediately; they have a well-developed instinct about their audiences. Therefore, they play and sing any old way, without distinction.”
― Jiri Weil, Mendelssohn is on the Roof

“And people always think there’s hope, even when they’re standing over an open grave.”
― Jiří Weil, Life with a Star

“I looked into the darkness. I knew that in my street, on the outskirts of the city, no procession would ever march by. There were no stars in the sky, but a fine rain was falling. I heard its fall as a quiet rustle, like the turning pages of a book. Perhaps it was a hand running along a table covered by a green cloth with a leaf design; perhaps it was the rustle of those leaves being touched that I heard. Perhaps Death too has a friendly, kind voice and perhaps she too caresses one’s hair with her hard, callused hand.”
― Jiří Weil, Life with a Star