"A human being tends to believe that the mood of the moment, be it troubled or blithe, peaceful or stormy, is the true, native, and permanent tenor of his existence ... whereas the truth is that he is condemned to improvisation and morally lives from hand to mouth all the time."
Thomas Mann was a German novelist and essayist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. Born in Lübeck on 1875-06-06, he wrote major works including Buddenbrooks, Death in Venice, and The Magic Mountain. He died near Zürich on 1955-08-12.