God is forgotten, the dollar proves powerless to replace him, mechanics do not relieve any spiritual distress. The road is closed. Under these conditions, America only increases its speed. America will not be stopped by obstacles at all, it will move forward, it will break through. Should America turn back? Not at all! It only accelerates a hundredfold, plays hurricane on the globe and chases life to white heat. We have the word Americanism in Europe, the ancients had festina lente. ("Festina lente", 1928)

I will remember that I once went to the altar in church. It was when I was confirmed. The priest put something in my mouth, and afterwards he let me sip a glass. There were many people around who were looking at it, but they held back and did not smile. Why remember this now? I have no use for it and there is no wisdom in it. It just carries me away because I am happy and excited. I think it is called Hugskott. (On Overgrown Paths, 1949)

Yes, we are vagabonds on earth. We wander the roads and howl, sometimes we crawl, sometimes we walk upright and trample each other down. (Landstrykere, 1927)

I remember from my childhood in Nordland a lonely night, it was a quiet summer night in the sun. I came rowing in a boat, but I didn't row, I was limping and sitting with my face turned forward in the boat. Every seabird was silent and there was nothing living to be seen on land. Then a head appeared from the shiny water, the water filtered off it. It was probably a seal, but it was like a being from another world, it lay looking at me with open eyes and pondering. Its gaze was like a human's... (In Wonderland, 1903)

Life should be treated like a woman. Shouldn't one be gallant towards life and let her win over one? One should give in and give in and leave all treasures behind. (Rosa, 1908)

[Wergeland] did not become an old man who sat and made himself disgusting to his surroundings in his old age. It was a gift to him from the gods, a grace to him from the gods. And neither did he slide down to the relaxation in his production that might lead to a St. Olav or some other fine recognition, at least he did not live old enough for that; no, he died young. (“Wergeland”, speech on Henrik Wergeland’s centenary, 17 June 1908)

He was young and unfamiliar with his sudden helplessness, he sat mostly still, and when he had to move around the room he helped himself with his hands and threw himself from chair to chair. He was busy thinking up a new lifestyle, it was a strange occupation for the born sailor, and sometimes he even stopped in astonishment.

Now one might think that Abel had a dangerously large family right from the start, wife, parents, two sisters and grandmother, it may have been difficult in the first weeks after the wedding, but Abel and the steam hammer worked well, and his father also helped out in the forge, he had the most powerful upper body and was especially a machine for filing. It went really well. (The Women at the Watermill, 1920)

Bjørnson was aware of his impermanence: Time takes it! Do the rest of us have anything we should have said! For my own part, I sit and take notes and jot down notes about a burned-down wooden villa and think about this affair. Away at the nearest farm, a small dog runs back and forth, and I see that it barks at me, but it does not disturb me. I have peace, my mind is clear and my conscience is free.

Let's play with Vaar over the Earth!

And into the great Music of Nature

a Sound murmurs from my Heart,

A Thank You for every Spring I got.

Love is God's first word, the first thought that sailed through his brain. When he said: Let there be light! it became love. And everything he had created was very good and he would have left nothing undone. And love became the origin of the world and the ruler of the world; but all its paths are full of flowers and blood, flowers and blood.

He had to rehabilitate himself by deception; when he pretended that he was like others, that he was commensurable, the poor man had to use his own standard and persuade himself to believe it. He might have had his little happiness in this, at least he had no other. All art then? All art. But not a bad work of art. (The Women at the Water Fountain, 1920)

Knut Hamsun's second wife was Marie Andersen (b. 19.11.1881, d. 5.8.1969). Marie and Knut Hamsun married on 25.6.1909. They had four children.

Knut Hamsun's first wife: Bergljot Bassøe Beck (b. 17.4.1873, d. 13.4.1943) (Married to Edoard Göpfert 31.12.1893, divorced 1898. Bergljot Bassøe Beck Göpfert had his first child, Maria, called Vesla, with Edoard Göpfert on 29.7.1894.)

Knut Hamsun's siblings numbered seven people.

Knut Hamsun's mother Tora Olsen (b. 11.1.1830, d. 6.1.1919) had two brothers, Ole and Hans, who were central to Knut Hamsun's life.

Ole Pedersen's daughter Anna (Knut Hamsun's cousin) was number 8 in a line of 11 siblings. She was born in 1859 – the same year as Knut Hamsun. She moved to Hønefoss in 1884 and emigrated to the USA in 1887.

Nut Hamsun married for the first time on 16.5.1898 to Bergljot Bassøe Beck (b. 17.4.1873, d. 13.4.1943). They were divorced on 20.4.1906. They had one daughter: Victoria Hamsun (b. 15.8.1902, d. 1980)

Every poet knows that poetry is created under a stronger or weaker pressure of mood. A sound hums within you, colors come to your eyes, you feel something ripple within you. ("Letter to a German Translator", 1908)

Suddenly a shot was heard, two shots. A panic struck the crowd, who rushed into the side streets amid immense screams; at the same time the police used the apartment to ride after the package in different directions, trampling it down, slashing with their sabres. At that moment there was a feeling of war. ("A Street Revolution", Krattskog, 1903)