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Karl Kraus

Karl Kraus Quotes

Writer

Karl Kraus (April 28, 1874 - June 12, 1936) was an Austrian writer and critic, known for his satirical and critical writing style. He was one of the most important Austrian writers of the early 20th century, particularly renowned for his sharp commentary on society, politics, and culture.

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Famous Karl Kraus Quotes

“It is uplifting to lose one?s faith in a reality which looks the way it is described in a newspaper.”

Way Looks Reality Loses Newspapers Uplifting

Author:Karl Kraus

“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.”

Way May Mean Made Ends Sacrifice Ready Consumers Goods

Author:Karl Kraus

“Sorrento, August. For two weeks now I haven't heard a German word or understood an Italian one. This way one can manage to live with people; everything goes like clockwork and no irksome misunderstanding can arise.”

People Way Two Heard Week Havens Communication Understood Arise Manage Italian Misunderstanding Two Weeks August Clockwork

Book:Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms

Source: Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms

“In the theater one must sit in such a way that one sees the audience as a dark mass. Then it cannot bother one more than it does an actor. Nothing is more disturbing than being able to distinguish individuals in the crowd.”

Way Doe Able Actors Individual Dark Audience Mass Theater Crowds Bother Disturbing

Book:Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms

Source: Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms

“I saw a poet chase a butterfly in a meadow. He put his net on a bench where a boy sat reading a book. It's a misfortune that it is usually the other way round.”

Way Book Reading Boys Saws Poet Rounds Sat Misfortunes Butterfly Benches Meadows Monarch Butterfly Chasing Butterflies

Book:Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms

Source: Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms

“Progress celebrates victories over nature. Progress makes purses out of human skin. When people were traveling in mail coaches, the world got ahead better than it does now that salesmen fly through the air. What good is speed if the brain has oozed out on the way? How will the heirs of this age be taught the most basic motions that are necessary to activate the most complicated machines? Nature can rely on progress; it will avenge it for the outrage it has perpetrated on it.”

People Ifs World Way Humans Doe Age Nature Brain Progress Air Taught Victory Skins Machines Complicated Speed Coaches Celebrate Rely Mail Outrage Purses Salesman Heirs Activate

Author:Karl Kraus

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

Way Looks Beautiful Beauty

Author:Karl Kraus

“Nationalism is the love which ties me to the blockheads of my country, to the insultors of my way of life, and to the desecrators of my language.”

Way Country Language My Way Ties Patriotism Nationalism Blockheads

Book:Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms

Source: Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected Aphorisms

About the Author

Born: April 28, 1874
Died: June 12, 1936
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 269

Related Topics

Literature Ifs Men People Writing World Language Art Doe Wells Education Journalist Morality Humans Ideas Knows Lying Reading Way Firsts

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Books & Sources

Half-truths & One-and-a-half Truths: Selected AphorismsRelated source material

Dicta and ContradictaRelated source material

Anti-Freud: Karl Kraus's Criticism of Psychoanalysis and PsychiatryRelated source material

No Compromise: Selected Writings of Karl KrausRelated source material

The Kraus Project: Essays by Karl KrausRelated source material

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