Robert Musil Quote

And since the possession of qualities presupposes that one takes a certain pleasure in their reality, all this gives us a glimpse of how it may all of a sudden happen to someone who cannot summon up any sense of reality — even in relation to himself — that one day he appears to himself as a man without qualities.

The Man Without Qualities: A sort of introduction. The like of it now happens (I) (ed. 1953)