Alfred:
Truth? Justice? Human dignity? What good are they?

Alfred:
Do you know what lies at the bottom of the mainstream? Mediocrity.

Gustav von Aschenbach:
You must never smile like that. You must never smile like that at anyone.

Gustav von Aschenbach:
I remember when we once had one of those

Gustav von Aschenbach:
in my father's house. The aperture through which the sand runs is so tiny that first it seems as if the level in the upper glass never changes. To our eyes, it appears that the sand runs out only, only at the end. And until it does, it's not worth thinking about. Till the last moment when there is no more time... when there's no more time left to think about it.

Gustav von Aschenbach:
You know sometimes I think that artists are rather like hunters aiming in the dark. They don't know what their target is, and they don't know if they've hit it. But you can't expect life to illuminate the target and steady your aim. The creation of beauty and purity is a spiritual act.

Alfred:
Non Gustav, no. Beauty belongs to the senses. Only to the senses.

Gustav von Aschenbach:
You cannot reach the spirit with the senses. You cannot. It's only by complete domination of the senses that you can ever achieve wisdom, truth, and human dignity.

Alfred:
In all the world, there is no impurity so impure as old age.