Karl Kraus Quotes

Quotes about:

• The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so they believe they are clever as he.

  Karl Kraus

  Funny, Clever, Stupid

  57 Copy quote

• The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people worse than they are.

  Karl Kraus

  Thinking, People, Devil

  "Die Fackel", no. 277/78 (March 31, 1909), translated in "Anti-Freud: Karl Kraus's Criticism of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry" by Thomas Szasz, (Ch. 8), 1970.

  62 Copy quote

• War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost.

  Karl Kraus

  War, Fighting, Winning

  Thomas Stephen Szasz, Karl Kraus (1990). “Anti-Freud: Karl Kraus's Criticism of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry”, p.153, Syracuse University Press

  9 Copy quote

• Solitude would be ideal if you could pick the people to avoid.

  Karl Kraus

  People, Solitude, Would Be

  55 Copy quote

• Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.

  Karl Kraus

  Country, Moral Corruption, Literature

  71 Copy quote

• Most people only do what they are asked to do; success comes to those who do a little more.

  Karl Kraus

  People, Littles

  7 Copy quote

• Penalties serve to deter those who are not inclined to commit any crimes.

  Karl Kraus

  Crime, Penalties, Commit

  Karl Kraus (1976). “Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms”

  11 Copy quote

• War is, at first, the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn't any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone's being worse off.

  Karl Kraus

  Hope, Peace, War

  Karl Kraus (1976). “Half-truths & one-and-a-half truths: selected aphorisms”

  11 Copy quote

• There are women who are not beautiful but only look that way.

  Karl Kraus

  Beauty, Beautiful, Looks

  "'Sprüche und Widersprüche' ('Dicta and Contradictions')". Book by Karl Kraus, translated by Richard Hanser, 1909.

  9 Copy quote

• Psychoanalysis is that mental illness for which it regards itself as therapy.

  Karl Kraus

  Mental Illness, Therapy, Regard

  Karl Kraus (1976). “Half-truths & one-and-a-half truths: selected aphorisms”

  11 Copy quote

• No ideas and the ability to express them - that's a journalist.

  Karl Kraus

  Hilarious, Ideas, Literature

  "Unspeakable but readable" by Ian Mayes, www.theguardian.com. August 27. 2004.

  29 Copy quote

• The streets of Vienna are paved with culture, the streets of other cities with asphalt.

  Karl Kraus

  Cities, Vienna, Culture

  Jonathan Franzen, Karl Kraus (2013). “The Kraus Project: Essays by Karl Kraus”, p.13, Macmillan

  168 Copy quote

• We are sacrificing ourselves for our ready-made goods; we are consumers and live in such a way that the means may consume the end.

  Karl Kraus

  Mean, Sacrifice, May

  "In These Great Times". Book by Karl Kraus, translated by Harry Zohn, p. 74, 1976.

  5 Copy quote

• How do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists, then believe what they read.

  Karl Kraus

  War, Lying, Believe

  15 Copy quote

• To me all men are equal: there are jackasses everywhere, and I have the same contempt for them all.

  Karl Kraus

  Men, Literature, Equal

  Karl Kraus (1976). “Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms”

  21 Copy quote

• A school without grades must have been concocted by someone who was drunk on non-alcoholic wine.

  Karl Kraus

  Education, Wine, School

  Karl Kraus (1976). “Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms”

  5 Copy quote

• Sexuality poorly repressed unsettles some families; well repressed, it unsettles the whole world.

  Karl Kraus

  Literature, World, Sexuality

  Die Fackel, No. 315/16, January 26, 1911.

  26 Copy quote

• Democracy means the opportunity to be everyone's slave.

  Karl Kraus

  Mean, Opportunity, Democracy

  18 Copy quote

• One of the most widespread diseases is diagnosis.

  Karl Kraus

  Doctors, Disease, Diagnosis

  Karl Kraus (1976). “Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms”

  6 Copy quote

• In case of doubt, decide in favor of what is correct.

  Karl Kraus

  Decision, Doubt, Favors

  Karl Kraus (1976). “Half-truths & one-and-a-half truths: selected aphorisms”

  4 Copy quote

• Curses on the law! Most of my fellow citizens are the sorry consequences of uncommitted abortions.

  Karl Kraus

  Sorry, Law, Abortion

  Karl Kraus (1977). “No Compromise: Selected Writings of Karl Kraus”, Frederick Ungar

  9 Copy quote

• I and my public understand each other very well: it does not hear what I say, and I don't say what it wants to hear.

  Karl Kraus

  Loss, Doe, Want

  Karl Kraus, Jonathan McVity (2001). “Dicta and Contradicta”, p.118, University of Illinois Press

  17 Copy quote

• Moral responsibility is what is lacking in a man when he demands it of a woman.

  Karl Kraus

  Responsibility, Men, Demand

  Karl Kraus (1976). “Half-truths & one-and-a-half truths: selected aphorisms”

  21 Copy quote

• When a man is treated like a beast, he says, 'After all, I'm human.' When he behaves like a beast, he says 'After all, I'm only human.

  Karl Kraus

  Men, Literature, Beast

  12 Copy quote

• It is better not to express what one means than to express what one does not mean.

  Karl Kraus

  Mean, Doe, Literature

  Karl Kraus (1976). “Half-truths & one-and-a-half truths: selected aphorisms”

  6 Copy quote

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