“Berlin is large and cruel, madness sprouts from the asphalt, it lurks in nooks and crannies, it waits for you behind this, behind that corner. It glows in the eyes of your seatmate on the tram, it is the motor that powers the tram, the machines, the elevators, the vacuum cleaners, it rules administration and housing offices; it steers the automobiles to run you over; it whirrs in the electrical wires so that their high tension hits you, it moves the revolving door, it shovels you into the bar dancing to the jazz band. It sits at the roulette table and conducts the game and ruins you. Up! Run away into the madhouse!”

- Joseph Roth