“Some people read between the lines.
Helmutt Churchill
I prefer to write there.”
About Helmutt Churchill & the Quote
Born in Leipzig in 1940, Helmutt Churchill spent his youth surrounded by silence — some of it social, some of it structural. Paper was scarce, margins were wide, and official statements always seemed to say less than they meant.
This quote, from a 1991 interview in Die Unterschätzte Pause (The Underestimated Pause), encapsulates Helmutt’s approach to meaning-making: refuse to follow the rules of the page, and make your own commentary in the gaps.
His students claimed he never wrote in straight lines. His manuscripts often featured footnotes commenting on footnotes, and he once published a pamphlet printed entirely in the margins of a restaurant menu.
Churchill saw subtext not as something to be uncovered — but created. Loudly. In biro. Usually on something that didn’t belong to him.
Today’s quote is a reminder: if you don’t like what’s written, scribble in the space around it. Preferably with flair.
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