“Well then, if Pieter Breughel could place the Alps directly at the edge of his landscapes and genre scenes, then why couldn’t I use these very same scissors to not only cut out from my landscapes and characters that which comes in handy, but why couldn’t I cut out from my mind that and only that which I ponder the most intensely and, thus, which I like the most? And now that I have leftthe mess behind me, I once again foolishly believe that I have the key to certain events and that it is solely up to me to write them.” 

 

From: Bohumil Hrabal: “The Little Town Where Time Stood Still“