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Truth is a clumsy servant that breaks the dishes while washing them.

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
Break
Truth
Clumsy
Washing
Dishes
Breaks
Servant
Philosophical

More quotes by Karl Kraus

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Most people only do what they are asked to do success comes to those who do a little more.
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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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Jealousy is a dog's bark which attracts thieves.
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Psychoanalysis: a rabbit that was swallowed by a boa constrictor just wanted to see what it was like in there.
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Democracy means the opportunity to be everyone's slave.
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He who does without the praise of the crowd will not deny himself an opportunity to be his own adherent.
Karl Kraus
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One cannot dictate an aphorism to a typist. It would take too long.
Karl Kraus
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A cigar, said the altruist, a cigar, my good man, I cannot give you. But any time you need a light, just come around mine is always lit.
Karl Kraus
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Not greeting people isn't enough. One also doesn't greet people one doesn't know.
Karl Kraus
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That an author takes a bow is not humility but presumption. What does the paleface want on the stage afterwards? But before the performance he had even less business there--and paying him royalties is equivalent to cheating the actors.
Karl Kraus
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In case of doubt, decide in favor of what is correct.
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Talent is often a defect in character.
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I knew a man who carried his education in his vest pocket because there was more room there than in his head.
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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Through my satire I make little people so big that afterwards they are worthy objects of my satire and no one can reproach me any longer.
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Squeeze human nature into the straitjacket of criminal justice and crime will appear.
Karl Kraus
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The psychoanalysts pick our dreams as if they were our pockets.
Karl Kraus
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Nothing is more horrible than my self in the mirror of hysteria. Nothing is more vulgar than my style in the hands of another. Toimitate me is to punish me.
Karl Kraus
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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.
Karl Kraus
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My request that my writing be read twice has aroused great indignation. Unjustly so. After all, I do not ask that they be read once.
Karl Kraus