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

  55 Copy quote

• If someone calls me vain and mean, I know that he trusts me and has something to confess to me.

  Karl Kraus

  Trust, Mean, Vain

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

  5 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.

  61 Copy quote

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

  Karl Kraus

  People, Solitude, Would Be

  54 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”

  3 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

  8 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

  6 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”

  8 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

  69 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.

  28 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”

  10 Copy quote

• Sound opinions are valueless. What matters is who holds them.

  Karl Kraus

  What Matters, Sound, Opinion

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

  5 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.

  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”

  10 Copy quote

• I have often been asked to be fair and view a matter from all sides. I did so, hoping that something might improve if I viewed allsides of it. But the result was the same. So I went back to viewing things only from one side, which saves me a lot of work and disappointment. For it is comforting to regard something as bad and to be able to use one's prejudice as an excuse.

  Karl Kraus

  Disappointment, Views, Perspective

  "Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths". Book by Karl Kraus, translated by Harry Zohn, 1986.

  5 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”

  19 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

  15 Copy quote

• What the teachers digest, the pupils eat.

  Karl Kraus

  Education, Teacher, Pupils

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

  5 Copy quote

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

  Karl Kraus

  War, Lying, Believe

  14 Copy quote

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

  Karl Kraus

  Mean, Opportunity, Democracy

  15 Copy quote

• There are writers who can express in as little as twenty pages what I occasionally need as many as two for.

  Karl Kraus

  Two, Twenties, Needs

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

  5 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”

  19 Copy quote

• I master only the language of others. Mine does with me what it wants.

  Karl Kraus

  Style, Doe, Want

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

  4 Copy quote

• A weak man has doubts before a decision; a strong man has them afterwards.

  Karl Kraus

  Motivational, Success, Strong

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

  31 Copy quote

• Newspapers have roughly the same relationship to life as fortune-tellers to metaphysics.

  Karl Kraus

  Newspapers, Fortune, Metaphysics

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

  62 Copy quote

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