I believe that literature always goes precisely there where the damage to a person has been done. Herta Muller Read Quote
My first book, ‘Nadirs,’ was very important for me. I’ll leave its literary worth for others to judge. But its publication in Berlin in 1984 gave me protection. As did the awards it won. The Romanian secret police could no longer treat me and my friends as though we were completely cut off from the rest of the world. And we no longer felt cut off. Herta Muller Read Quote
Whatever I read went under my skin. I almost devoured the literature, which became like a road to discovery. Herta Muller Read Quote
I learned Romanian very late, when I was fifteen, in town, and I wanted to learn it. I like the language very much. Herta Muller Read Quote
Through writing, one experiences something different to what one experiences with the five senses one has because language is a different metier. Herta Muller Read Quote
If I don’t belong because of what I think and because of my opinions, then so be it. What can one do about it? One can’t bend over backwards or pretend to be someone else just to belong. And in any case, it doesn’t work. Once you no longer belong, it’s over. Herta Muller Read Quote
It was only against my mother’s will that I attended the preparatory high school in the city. She wanted me to become a seamstress in the village. She knew that if I moved to the city, I would become corrupted. And I was. I started to read books. Herta Muller Read Quote
