Karl Kraus Quotes

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

  Karl Kraus

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• “The world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.”

  Karl Kraus

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

  Karl Kraus

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• “To be sure, the dog is loyal. But why, on that account, should we take him as an example? He is loyal to man, not to other dogs.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “A woman who cannot be ugly is not beautiful.”

  Karl Kraus

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

  Karl Kraus

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

  Karl Kraus

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• “Life is an effort that deserves a better cause.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “How is the world ruled and led to war? Diplomats lie to journalists and believe these lies when they see them in print.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “You don't even live once.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “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

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• “A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “In Berlin, things are serious but not hopeless. In Vienna, they are hopeless but not serious.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “Satire that the censor understands is rightly censored.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “My language is the common prostitute that I turn into a virgin.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “Jealousy is a dog's bark which attracts thieves.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “Intercourse with a woman is sometimes a satisfactory substitute for masturbation. But it takes a lot of imagination to make it work.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “There is no more unhappy being under the sun than a fetishist who pines for a boot and has to content himself with an entire woman.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “The making of a journalist: no ideas and the ability to express them.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “I don't like to meddle in my private affairs.”

  Karl Kraus

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

  Karl Kraus

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• “To be perfect, one lacks only a defect.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “A weak man has doubts before a decision, a stong man has them afterwards.”

  Karl Kraus

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• “Ma dove troverò mai il tempo per non leggere tante cose?”

  Karl Kraus

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• “Culture is the tacit agreement to let the means of subsistence disappear behind the purpose of existence.”

  Karl Kraus

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