Thomas Mann Quote

Speech is civilisation itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact—it is silence which isolates.


The Magic Mountain (1924) ch. 6 (translated by H. T. Lowe-Porter)


Speech is civilisation itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact—it is silence which isolates.

Speech is civilisation itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact—it is silence which isolates.

Speech is civilisation itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact—it is silence which isolates.

Speech is civilisation itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact—it is silence which isolates.