Emil and the Detectives quotes

But in case you don’t know it—most people earn far less than that. And whether you like it or not, anyone who earns thirty-five marks a week must think that a hundred and forty marks he has saved is a great deal of money.

For lots of people a hundred marks is almost as much as a million.

You might say that they write “100” with six ciphers and how much a million really is they cannot imagine even in their dreams.

Emil was a model boy. There it is. But he wasn’t one of the sort that can’t be anything else because they’re cowards and stingy and not real boys.

He was a model boy because he wanted to be.

He had made a resolution, the way people make resolutions not to go to the movies any more, or not to eat any more candy. He had made the resolution, and sometimes it was very hard for him to keep it.

When I think back on my childhood, my goodness, what a different spirit there was then.” And she wiggled her pinched toes in her left stocking in time with her talking. Emil looked on with interest. And the man could hardly nod for his puffing.

Emil had known for a long time that there are always people who say, “Ah, well, things used to be much better.”

So he paid no attention when anyone announced that formerly the air was much more healthful or that the oxen had bigger heads.

He looked out of the window and found it most curious. The circle was getting smaller and smaller. The engine was coming nearer and nearer to the last car. And it seemed as if it were doing that on purpose.

The train turned around on itself just like a dog that tries to bite his own tail.

And inside that black racing circle were trees and a glass windmill and a great house with two hundred stories.

In the other car sat a thief. And perhaps there were other thieves sitting or standing in the car. No one paid any attention to him. To be sure, a stranger had given him a ticket. But now he was just reading his paper again!

The city was so big, and Emil was so small.

And no one cared to know why he had no money and why he didn’t know where he had to get off. Four million people lived in Berlin, and not one of them was interested in Emil Tischbein.

The city was so big, and Emil was so small. And no one cared to know why he had no money and why he didn’t know where he had to get off.

Four million people lived in Berlin, and not one of them was interested in Emil Tischbein.

No one wants to know about other people’s troubles. Everyone is busy about his own cares and joys. And when anyone says, “I’m really sorry about that,” he usually doesn’t mean anything more than, “Oh, leave me alone!”

And no one cared to know why he had no money and why he didn’t know where he had to get off. Four million people lived in Berlin, and not one of them was interested in Emil Tischbein.

No one wants to know about other people’s troubles. Everyone is busy about his own cares and joys.

And when anyone says, “I’m really sorry about that,” he usually doesn’t mean anything more than, “Oh, leave me alone!”

Emil felt wonderfully relieved.

Of course, bad luck is always bad luck. But to have a few supporters who are on your side of their own free will is no small comfort.

He kept close watch on the thief, who was doing himself rather well, probably on Emil’s mother’s savings, too, and Emil had only one anxiety—that the man might get up and leave. Then Gustav and his horn and everything else would be of no use.

“Yes, sneak along in Berlin so that no one will see you,” Emil was irritated. “

If you want everyone to look at you just begin to sneak along.

”

“Oh, well, the average one is all right,” answered the Professor. “It is the most sensible way to be. This way we don’t lie to them.

I’ve promised my parents not to do anything that’s wrong or dangerous. And as long as I keep my word I can do what I want to.

He is a splendid fellow, my father.”

By this time it was dark. Electric ads flamed everywhere. The elevated thundered overhead. The subway rumbled beneath.

Street cars and motor busses, private cars and motor cycles, made a crazy concert.

Dance music came from the Woerz Café. The movie theater on Nollendorf Place began its last show. And many people crowded in.

“My mother?” asked Emil. “Not a bit of it.

She lets me do everything. But I don’t.

You understand?”

“

I guess, when people don’t talk much about it, it means they have plenty of it.

”

The two boys stood for a while in the gateway without speaking.

Night came. And the moon peeped with one eye over the elevated.

The Professor cleared his throat and asked without looking at the other, “You’re pretty fond of each other, aren’t you?”

“Don’t quarrel, don’t strike, scratch each other’s eyes out instead,” called the grandmother soothingly, and the subject was dropped.

Later Uncle Heimbold took the dog out for an airing. That is—Heimbolds had no dog, but Pony always said that when her father went out to get his evening glass of beer.

The grandmother and the two women and Pony Hütchen and Emil sat in the living room and talked over the past few days, which had been so exciting.