Quote

Morality is a venereal disease. Its primary stage is called virtue its secondary stage, boredom its tertiary stage, syphilis.

Karl Kraus

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Karl Kraus
Age: 62 †
Born: 1874
Born: March 28
Died: 1936
Died: June 12
Essayist
Journalist
Literary Critic
Playwright
Poet
Translator
Writer
Jicin
Virtue
Venereal
Stage
Syphilis
Called
Secondary
Literature
Primaries
Primary
Boredom
Morality
Disease
Tertiary

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The world has become uglier since it began to look into a mirror every day so let us settle for the mirror image and do without an inspection of the original.
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A good stylist should have narcissistic enjoyment as he works. He must be able to objectivize his work to such an extent that he catches himself feeling envious and has to jog his memory to find that he is himself the creator. In short, he must display that highest degree of objectivity which the world calls vanity.
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The extraordinary ability of a woman to forget is not the same as the talent of a lady not to be able to remember.
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Immortality is the only thing which doesn't tolerate being postponed.
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There is a cultural taste which tries very hard to get rid of the lice in a fur coat. There is another which tolerates the lice and thinks the coat can be worn with them in it. And finally there is a taste which regards the lice as the most important thing about the coat and consequently places the coat at the lice's disposal.
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Contemporaries live from second hand to mouth.
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The world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.
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Sound opinions are valueless. What matters is who holds them.
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If you wish to form a clear judgment on your friends, consult your dreams.
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There are women who are not beautiful but only look that way.
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They judge lest they be judged.
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The unattractive thing about chauvinism is not so much the aversion to other nations as the love of one's own.
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Talent is often a defect in character.
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In a well-run mental household there ought to be a thorough cleaning at the threshold of consciousness a few times a year.
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So-called psychoanalysis is the occupation of lustful rationalists who trace everything in the world to sexual causes--with the exception of their occupation.
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Journalists write because they have nothing to say, and have something to say because they write.
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Psychology is as useless as directions for using poison.
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To have no ideas and being able to express them is the essence of journalism.
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I had a terrible vision: I saw an encyclopedia walk up to a polymath and open him up.
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On the stage one must not confuse the nature of a personality with the naturalness of a person.
Karl Kraus