Literary Birthday – 24 January – Vicki Baum

Vicki Baum was born 24 January 1888, and died 29 August 1960.

Nine Quotes

1. A writer should always have some profession which brings him into close contact with the realities of life.
2. Fame always brings loneliness. Success is as ice cold and lonely as the North Pole.
3. Patience is an integral part of talent.
4. To me, writing is not a profession. You might as well call living a profession. Or having children. Anything you can’t help doing.
5. You don’t get ulcers from what you eat. You get them from what’s eating you.
6. Courage comes and goes. Hold on for the next supply.
7. Curious, how each one of us secretly carries his private cemetery around with him and watches it filling up with ever new graves. The last one to be our own …
8. There are shortcuts to happiness and dancing is one of them!
9. Perfection bores me, in art, in music; most of all, in people. Luckily, perfection is rare.

Vicki Baum was an Austrian writer. Born in a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, she moved to the United States. When her books were banned in the Third Reich, she started publishing in English. She is known for Menschen im Hotel – also known as Grand Hotel, one of her first international successes.

by Amanda Patterson

Please click here for our Literary Birthday Calendar