Isak Dinesen Men Quotations

Man reaches the highest point of lovableness at 12 to 17 - to get it back, in a second flowering, at the age of 70 to 90

In the mind and nature of a man a secret is an ugly thing, like a hidden physical defect.

There is a particular hapiness in giving a man whom you like very much, good food that you have cooked yourself.

The entire being of a woman is a secret which should be kept.

One may take many liberties with God which one cannot take with men.

the true art of the gods is the comic. The comic is a condescension of the divine to the world of man; it is the sublime vision, which cannot be studied, but must ever be celestially granted. In the comic the gods see their own being reflected as in a mirror, and while the tragic poet is bound by strict laws, they will allow the comic artist a freedom as unlimited as their own.

What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine?

Man and woman are two locked caskets, of which each contains the key to the other.

It's an odd feeling-farewell-there is some envy in it. Men go off to be tested for courage and if we're tested at all, it's for patience, for doing without, for how well we can endure loneliness.

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.