The world is bad but not without hope. It is only hopeless when you look at it from an ideal viewpoint.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

When death has you by the throat, you don't mince words.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

A story is not finished, until it took the worst turn.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

This inhuman world has to become more humane. But how?

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

The evolution of humans can not only be seen as the grand total of their wars; it is also defined by the evolution of the human mind and the development of the human consciousness.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

Only the freedom of mind can prevent the state from becoming totalitarian and from issuing totalitarian demands.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

Power is paradoxical.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

The only remedy against hunger is reasonable birth control.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

World history is tragic.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

For people who have no critical acumen, a state is a mythical entity, for those who think critically it is a rational fiction, created by man in order to facilitate human coexistence.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

It is surely easier to confess a murder over a cup of coffee than in front of a jury.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

A state always calls itself fatherland when it is ready for murder.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

The rightful claim to dissent is an existential right of the individual.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

The difference between humans and wild animals is that humans pray before they commit murder.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

The worst possible turn can not be programmed. It is caused by coincidence.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

Someone who is about to die does not mourn the dead.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

So then learn to conquer your fear. This is the only art we have to master nowadays: to look at things without fear, and to fearlessly do right.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

Human life is beyond comprehension.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

The art of the cuisine, when fully mastered, is the one human capability of which only good things can be said.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt

Resistance at all cost is the most senseless act there is.

- Friedrich Durrenmatt