Scandinavian Quotes

“It’s not just dark in Scandinavia.”
― Bo Brennan

“How easy it is to love.”
― Tove Jansson, The Listener

“I’ve just been wandering the streets at night. If I came by a German soldier out alone, I would follow him, shove the pistol to the back of his head, and shoot. Once, I even did two at the same time, but they were really drunk.”


Poul-Erik aka ‘Willy’
The Informer by Steen Langstrup”
― Steen Langstrup, The Informer

“It’s a case of mistaken identity. It’s one big mistake. You weren’t even in the country when it happened.”

Maja in the short story 'Metro' by Steen Langstrup”
― Steen Langstrup, Metro

“Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary, great minds with the ordinary”
― Blaise Pascal

“But I’m completely innocent in this case. I’m the victim. Don’t you understand? If she’d just dressed in an appropriate manner, nothing would have happened. I’m a peaceful man, and now I’m going to prison.”

Conversation on Radio Fake 112.8 MHz
In The Shadow of Sadd.”
― Steen Langstrup, In The Shadow of Sadd

“Why didn’t you call me at… Sorry, I have no idea where I’ve been. Berlin? Was it Berlin today?”

William Wilson in the short story 'Metro' by Steen Langstrup”
― Steen Langstrup, Metro

“I think Scandinavian Paganism, to us here, is more interesting than any other. It is, for one thing, the latest; it continued in these regions of Europe till the eleventh century; 800 years ago the Norwegians were still worshippers of Odin. It is interesting also as the creed of our fathers; the men whose blood still runs in our veins, whom doubtless we still resemble in so many ways.”
― Thomas Carlyle

“In the year 970, the Greek historian Leo Diaconus witnessed a band of far-traveling beserkers as they fought against an army of the Byzantine emperor, his employer. He says that they fought in a burning frenzy beside which ordinary battle rage paled in comparison. They roared, growled, bayed, and shrieked like animals, and in an especially eerie and uncanny way. They seemed utterly indifferent to their own well-being, as if lost to themselves. Their leader, who embodied all of these traits to an extreme degree, was thought by Leo to have literally gone insane. Leo and Byzantine forces were veterans of countless battles, so the reactions elicited by the Scandinavian's behavior in Leo and his companions strongly suggests that what they witnessed in that battle was something unique to the Scandinavians, and something which chilled Leo and the Byzantines to their core.”
― Daniel McCoy, The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

“They had
inherited a poor, patriarchal, and formal society, and turned it into a rich,
feminist, and fiercely egalitarian one.”
― Michael Booth, The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

“Her face was soft now, damp from the steam of my bath and the heat of her news. Her eyebrows were as white as cornsilk, her eyelashes clear. My sister had a certain pale, bright beauty, while I was an almost blonde, a shadowy hybrid. Ginnie was willowy and golden, I was shorter and freckled. I imagined our in utero tug-of-war. How she had seized all those pale, paternal Scandinavian genes, pulled at those chromosomes until they stretched like taffy.”
― Mindy Friddle, The Garden Angel

“Cassie cut off a piece of the salmon salad toast, making sure to capture a generous heap of greens, capers, and bright orange roe. "This looks amazing," she said before bringing the bite to her mouth. She felt the small beads of roe popping, releasing their bright, briny liquid, which perfectly cut the mayonnaise-rich smoked salmon salad.”
― Emily Arden Wells, Eat Post Like