Top 40 Jonas Jonasson Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Things are what they are, and whatever will be, will be.”

— Jonas Jonasson

2. “Revenge is not a good thing. Revenge is like politics: one thing always leads to another until bad has become worse, and worse has become worst.”

— Jonas Jonasson

3. “But as long as we think positively, I’m sure a solution will appear.”

— Jonas Jonasson

4. “The overworked man was tired of everything, and he only kept going because he had long since forgotten that life could consist of anything else.”

— Jonas Jonasson

5. “People could behave how they liked, but Allan considered that in general it was quite unnecessary to be grumpy if you had the chance not to.”

— Jonas Jonasson

6. “Things are what they are, and whatever will be will be. That meant, among other things, that you didn’t make a fuss, especially when there was good reason to do so: for example, when they heard the news about his father’s death. In accordance with family tradition, Allan reacted by chopping wood, although for an unusually long time and without saying a word.”

— Jonas Jonasson

7. “Never try to out drink a Swede, unless you happen to be a Finn or at least a Russian.”

— Jonas Jonasson

8. “In certain situations it was best not to know or at least best not to leave any way of proving that you knew what you knew.”

— Jonas Jonasson

9. “Imagine that, death was just like being asleep. Would he have time to think before it was all over? And would he have time to think that he had thought it? But wait, how much do you have to think before you have finished thinking?”

— Jonas Jonasson

10. “It had been exciting, the entire journey, but nothing lasts forever, except possibly general stupidity.”

— Jonas Jonasson

11. “Life, here I come!′ he said. And was immediately and fatally run over by a bus.”

— Jonas Jonasson

12. “When Julius was twenty-five, his mother died of cancer – which Julius grieved over – and shortly afterward his father was swallowed by the bog when he tried to rescue a heifer. Julius grieved over that too – because he was fond of the heifer.”

— Jonas Jonasson

13. “Above all, Suharto had been hunting down communists, presumed communists, suspected communists, possible communists, highly unlikely communists, and the odd innocent person.”

— Jonas Jonasson

14. “Indonesia is the country where everything is possible.”

— Jonas Jonasson

15. “Present – that part of eternity dividing the domain of disappointment from the realm of hope. AMBROSE BIERCE.”

— Jonas Jonasson

16. “Politics sometimes is not only unnecessary but also unnecessary complicated.”

— Jonas Jonasson

17. “Allan had never imagined it would be easy to cross the Himalayas. But later he had realised just how lucky he had been to bump into those kind Iranian communists. It.”

— Jonas Jonasson

18. “They amplified existing problems or invented ones that didn’t exist, polarizing and making people fearful of one another. Then they pointed to what they’d created and said they were the only ones with solutions.”

— Jonas Jonasson

19. “You can’t imagine what the Russian alphabet looks like. It’s no wonder people are illiterate.”

— Jonas Jonasson

20. “With the new antiterrorism laws, the government could call anyone a terrorist and lock him or her up for as long as they liked, for any reason they liked. Or for no reason at all.”

— Jonas Jonasson

21. “The world went on revolving around its sun at the constant speed and with the inconstant temper it always had.”

— Jonas Jonasson

22. “Humanity, in general, is a potpourri of many traits. For example: stinginess, self-involvedness, jealousy, ignorance, stupidity, and fearfulness. But also: kindness, cleverness, friendliness, forgiveness, considerateness – and generosity. Not all of these traits find room in every soul.”

— Jonas Jonasson

23. “Her mother took the bottle with a “thank you, dear girl,” unscrewed the lid, and began to dull the never-ending pain that came with the inability to give oneself or one’s child a future.”

— Jonas Jonasson

24. “It sure was an unjust world when certain people received an excess of certain things, while others got nothing.”

— Jonas Jonasson

25. “Well, now you can see how sensible it is not to start your day by guessing what might happen... After all, how long would I have had to go on guessing before I guessed this?”

— Jonas Jonasson

26. “Nombeko said that she was South African, and that she thought it sounded laborious to hate all Americans, given how many of them there were.”

— Jonas Jonasson

27. “His experience was that Justice was rarely as just as it ought to be. The others agreed.”

— Jonas Jonasson

28. “He had certain similarities to Trump in Washington in that he was reluctant to delegate tasks in his administration. With the possible difference that Trump drew conclusions without doing the actual reading.”

— Jonas Jonasson

29. “Allan admitted that the difference between madness and genius was subtle, and that he couldn’t with certainty say which it was in this case, but that he had his suspicions.”

— Jonas Jonasson

30. “The priest and the receptionist joyfully and contentedly shared their genuine dislike of the world, including the entirety of the Earth’s population. The burden was now only half as great, since each of them could take on three and a half billion people rather than seven billion alone.”

— Jonas Jonasson

31. “But wait, how much do you have to think before you have finished thinking?”

— Jonas Jonasson

32. “Drinks with an alcoholic content ought to go down your throat and into your belly as quickly as possible, not stick to your palate.”

— Jonas Jonasson

33. “Life worked in such a way that right was not necessarily right, but rather what the person in charge said was right.”

— Jonas Jonasson

34. “We’ll just change your name – I’m sure the assistant can’t tell one black from the next.’ Said the fourteen-year-old who looked twelve.”

— Jonas Jonasson

35. “The advantage of arak was that it freed your thoughts; the disadvantage was that they were not only freed but also, by the next morning, gone.”

— Jonas Jonasson

36. “If only children could be free of all that crap previous generations had gathered up for them, he said, perhaps it would bring some clarity to their lives.”

— Jonas Jonasson

37. “The evening papers, the Swedish tabloids, held out longer. If you had nothing to say, you could always interview somebody who didn’t realize that he too had nothing to say.”

— Jonas Jonasson

38. “To think that Allan was going to enjoy one more breakfast in his life without porridge! That was good news indeed.”

— Jonas Jonasson

39. “When life has gone into overtime it’s easy to take liberties, he thought, and he made himself comfortable in the seat.”

— Jonas Jonasson

40. “Sometimes you know things you shouldn’t, and sometimes it’s the other way round.”

— Jonas Jonasson

41. “Sometimes it’s impossible to do the right thing, Prime Minister. Just more or less wrong.”

— Jonas Jonasson

42. “Politics was about watching where you put your feet.”

— Jonas Jonasson

43. “The manager had just returned from a hospitality conference in Jakarta, where he had learned that the main duty of hotel staff was not to deliver but to over-deliver.”

— Jonas Jonasson

44. “You see, Mr Prosecutor, I haven’t always been a hundred years old. No, that’s recent.”

— Jonas Jonasson

45. “Trump drew conclusions without doing the actual reading.”

— Jonas Jonasson