Karl Kraus Quotes

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

The trouble with Germans is not that they fire shells, but that they engrave them with quotations from Kant.

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

Democracy means the opportunity to be everyone's slave.

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

Education is a crutch with which the foolish attack the wise to prove that they are not idiots.

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

What the teachers digest, the pupils eat.

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.

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.

Religion, morality, and patriotism are feelings that are manifested only when they are outraged.

There is no more unfortunate creature under the sun than a fetishist who yearns for a woman's shoe and has to settle for the whole woman.

The extraordinary ability of a woman to forget is not the same as the talent of a lady not to be able to remember.

A woman occasionally is quite a serviceable substitute for masturbation.