The Silence of the Sea (1949)

Howard Vernon: Werner von Ebrennac

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Quotes 

• Werner von Ebrennac : There's a lovely fairy tale that I've read, that you're read, that everyone has read. I don't know if the title is the same in your country. We call it, "Das Tier und die Schöne", "Beauty and the Beast". Poor Beauty, she is at the mercy of the Beast, powerless and imprisoned. She is subjected to his implacable, heavy presence all day long. Beauty is proud, dignified, she has become hard. But the Beast is better than he seems. He doesn't have the finest manners. He is tactless, brutal. He seems vulgar next to the refined Beauty. But he has a heart. Yes, a soul which aspires to higher things. If Beauty wished it so...

• Werner von Ebrennac : Balzac, Baudelaire, Corneille, Descartes, Fénelon, Gautier, Hugo. What a list. And I'm only up to H. Not to mention Molière, Racine, Rabelais, Pascal, Stendhal, Voltaire, Montaigne, nor any of the others. For England, Shakespeare immediately comes to mind. For Italy, Dante. For Spain, Cervantes. For us, Goethe. But to find others, you have to think about it. But when they say "France," who comes to mind? Immediately leap forth Molière, Racine, Hugo, Voltaire, Rabelais and who else? Names jostle like a crowd outside a theater, each trying to enter first. But, for music, it's my country. Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Wagner, Mozart. Which name comes to mind first? And we warred against each other. But it will be the last war. We'll never fight again. We will marry. Yes, yes. It'll be the world's most beautiful marriage.

• Werner von Ebrennac : German girls frightened me.

• Werner von Ebrennac : There is no hope. No hope! No hope! Nothing, nothing, no one. Not only your modern writers, your Péguys, your Prousts, your Bergsons, but all the others. All! All! All of them! They'll extinguish the flame completely. Europe will no longer be illuminated by light. "Nevermore."

• Werner von Ebrennac : I've always loved France. I was a child during the last war, so my opinion then doesn't count. Since then, I've always loved it, but from afar, like a faraway princess.

• Werner von Ebrennac : The room has a soul. This whole house has a soul.

• Werner von Ebrennac : Winter in France is nothing, it's quite mild. At home, winter is very harsh. We have dense forests of pine, covered in a thick sheet of snow. Here the trees are slender. Snow covers them like lace. At home, they remind me of bulls, stocky and powerful, needing strength to survive. Here, what's needed is the mind, subtle and poetic thought.

• Werner von Ebrennac : It's true. So many things stir at once within the soul of a German.

• Werner von Ebrennac : When we entered Saintes, I was pleased by the way the people welcomed us. I was very happy. I thought it'd be easy. Then I realized it was nothing but cowardice. I despised those people and feared for France. I thought, "Is this what she's become?" No, no. I was later and now I'm pleased with her stern face.

• Werner von Ebrennac : I liked Prague. No other city has so much soul. And Nuremberg - for a German, it makes our hearts swell, this city of beloved ghosts, each stone is a memorial to the noble lineage of old Germany. The French must feel the same way about the Chartres Cathedral. In spite of themselves, they feel their ancestors' presence, the grace of their souls, the splendor of their faith, their kindness.

• Werner von Ebrennac : I need France now. I demand a lot. I demand she welcome me. It's nothing to be here as a foreigner, a traveler, a conqueror. She gives nothing to them, and they can take nothing from her. Her highest riches can never be conquered. They must be drunk at her breast. She must offer her breast in a gesture of maternal affection.

• Werner von Ebrennac : Success isn't much compared to a clear conscience.

• Werner von Ebrennac : I have great respect for those who love their country.

• Werner von Ebrennac : How does my fire at home differ from this one? The wood and fireplace are similar, but the light isn't. It depends on the objects and people it falls upon.

• Werner von Ebrennac : I'm a musician. Not a performer, a composer. It's my whole life, so it is strange to see myself as a soldier.

• Werner von Ebrennac : Destiny led me to Chartres.

• Werner von Ebrennac : The obstacles will be overcome. Sincerity always overcomes all obstacles.

• [repeated line] 

  Werner von Ebrennac : I bid you good night.

• Werner von Ebrennac : France will teach them to be great, noble men.

• Werner von Ebrennac : What does Treblinka mean?

• Werner von Ebrennac : Who is lonelier than men on the same side when they are the masters?