# Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Friedrich Dürrenmatt (5 January 1921 – 14 December 1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist.

## Quotes

* A major power can afford a military debacle only when it looks like a political victory.
** Portrait of a Planet (1971)
* The only remedy against hunger is reasonable birth control.
** Portrait of a Planet (1971)
* Who sows fear, reaps weapons.
** About Tolerance (1977)
* That there is also freedom in captivity, only a prisoner can claim. Coming from a prison guard, this statement would be blasphemy.
** About Tolerance (1977)
* Freedom and justice are complementary concepts; freedom is no more feasible without justice than justice is possible without freedom.
** "Automobile and Railroad Nations"

### Romulus the Great (1956)

* We do not consider patriotism desirable if it contradicts civilized behavior.
** Act I
* Ein Widerstand um jeden Preis ist das Sinnloseste, was es geben kann.
** Resistance at all cost is the most senseless act there is.
** Act III
* Rea: My country, above all. Romulus: You see, you've been reading too many tragedies lately. Rea: But shouldn't one love one's country more than anything else in the world? Romulus: No, one should never love it as one loves other human beings. In fact, the most important thing is to mistrust one's country. No one turns killer more easily than one's country.
** Act III
* Romulus: It is much more difficult to be loyal to a human being than to remain loyal to a state. Rea: It's my country, not just a state. Romulus: Every state calls itself "country" or "nation" when it is about to commit murder. Rea: Our unconditional love for our country was what made Rome great. Romulus: But it did not make Rome good. We nurtured a beast with our virtues. We became drunk on the greatness of our country, but what we loved has now turned into gall and wormwood.
** Act III

### The Physicists (1961)

    Die Physiker (1961); translated into English as The Physicists (1964) by James Kirkup
* Eine Geschichte ist dann zu Ende gedacht, wenn sie ihre schlimmstmögliche Wendung genommen hat.
** A story is not finished, until it has taken the worst turn.
*** As translated by James Kirkup; also quoted in CurtainUp Reviews, Williamstown Theatre Festival (Summer 2007) by Elyse Sommer
** Variant translation: A story is thought through to the end when it has taken its worst possible turn.
* The worst possible turn cannot be predicted. It occurs by chance.

## Quotes about Dürrenmatt

* What can be said as a generalization about Dürrenmatt's dramatic oeuvre is that, from a dramaturgical point of view, it defies any sort of facile pigeonholing. He himself firmly denies that he belongs to any particular school of dramatic composition: there are elements of the absurd, classical tragedy, and even realism in his works. He says in 1954 that he is not "an existentialist, a nihilist, expressionist or ironist," and had he been writing later on he might well have added "absurdist" to the list. For him the stage is not a place for the working out of theories but a place for experiment, for developing the poetry and essence of the theater.
** Kenneth J. Northcott, in "Dürrenmatt’s Drama" (2006)

## External links

* Friedrich Dürrenmatt home page sponsored by the University of Chicago Press. Includes a 1969 interview with Dürrenmatt, his story "Smithy" and essay "Automobile and Railroad Nations," and essays on Dürrenmatt.
* Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel
* National Library Switzerland