# Joseph Roth - Quotes: 19 - Author page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth ## Books - [The Radetzky March](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march.md) — 19 quotes ## Recently added quotes > In those days an Austrian district captain like Herr von Trotta would have been less shaken by the news of the sudden death of his only child than by the news of even a seemingly dishonorable action of that only child. p. 265 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/in-those-days-an.md) > “So,” he said, “you believe, you believe that we—” > > “Are doomed,” Chojnicki completed. “We are doomed, you and your son and I. We are, I tell you, the last members of a world in which God sheds his grace on majesties, and lunatics like myself make gold.” p. 162 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/so-he-said.md) > The beauteous appearance of the victuals gave the old man as much pleasure as their simplicity. For he set store by good solid fare, a tribute he paid to both his taste and his conviction; the latter, you see, he called Spartan. With felicitous skill, he thus combined the sating of his desire with the demands of duty. He was a Spartan. But he was also an Austrian. p. 25 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/the-beauteous-appearance.md) > Dr. Skowronnek told the coachman to drop him off at the café. He went to his usual table as on any other day. The chessboard lay there as if the district captain hadn’t died. The waiter came to clear it away, but Skowronnek said, “Leave it!” And he played a game against himself, smirking, occasionally looking at the empty chair across the table, his ears filled with the gentle noise of the autumn rain, which was still running tirelessly down the panes. p. 331 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/dr-skowronnek-told.md) > Herr von Trotta had always made a point of appearing richer than he was. He had the instincts of a true gentleman. And in those days (and perhaps in our day too) no instincts were more expensive than those. People favored with such curses do not know how much they possess or how much they spend. They draw from an invisible source. They never keep accounts. They assume that their wealth cannot lag behind their generosity. p. 266 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/herr-von-trotta.md) > This era no longer wants us! This era wants to create independent nation-states! People no longer believe in God. The new religion is nationalism. Nations no longer go to church. They go to national associations. Monarchy, our monarchy, is founded on piety, on the faith that God chose the Hapsburgs to rule over so and so many Christian nations. Our Kaiser is a secular brother of the Pope, he is His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty; no other is as apostolic, no other majesty in Europe is as dependent on the Grace of God and on the faith of the peoples in the Grace of God. The German Kaiser still rules even when God abandons him; perhaps by the grace of the nation. The Emperor of Austria-Hungary must not be abandoned by God. But God has abandoned him! p. 161 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/this-era-no-longer.md) > For life became easy as soon as you drank. Oh, miracle of this borderland! It made life hard for a sober man, but whom did it leave sober? p. 166 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/for-life-became.md) > He was convinced—but whom could he tell?—that ten good sergeants are a lot more useful than twenty general-staff officers. p. 217 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/he-was-convinced-but.md) > In those days there were a lot of men like Kapturak on the borders of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. They began to circle around the old empire like those black cowardly birds that ogle a dying man from infinitely far away. Dark and impatient, beating their wings, they wait for his end. Their slanting beaks jab into their prey. No one knows where they come from or where they fly off to. They are the feathered brethren of enigmatic Death; they are his harbingers, his escorts, and his successors. p. 172 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/in-those-days.md) > He calmly fell asleep, believing the worst was over. He did not know—old Herr Trotta—that fate was brewing bitter grief for him while he slept. He was old and tired, and death was already lurking, but life would not yet let him go. Like a cruel host it held him fast at the table because he had not yet tasted all the bitterness that had been prepared for him. p. 244 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/he-calmly-fell.md) > Life seemed to flow along more swiftly than thoughts. And before he even made a decision he was an old man. p. 80 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/life-seemed-to-flow.md) > It was the face of a woman who had grown old but was still beautiful. Indeed, the nurse’s coif rejuvenated her, as it does all women, because it is in their nature to be rejuvenated by kindness and compassion and also by the external insignia of compassion. p. 326 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-roth/the-radetzky-march/it-was-the.md)