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The triumph of morality: A thief who has broken into a bedroom claims his sense of shame had been outraged, and by threatening theoccupants with exposure of an immoral act he blackmails them into not bringing charges for burglary.

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
Bedroom
Blackmail
Bringing
Charges
Triumph
Outraged
Claims
Thief
Shame
Exposure
Thieves
Morality
Immoral
Broken
Threatening
Burglary
Sense

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Language is the mother of thought, not its handmaiden.
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It is the style of idealism to console itself for the loss of something old with the ability to gape at something new.
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It is uplifting to lose one?s faith in a reality which looks the way it is described in a newspaper.
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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.
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Mankind became hysterical in the Middle Ages because it poorly repressed the sexual impressions of its Greek boyhood.
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It is regarded as normal to consecrate virginity in general and to lust for its destruction in particular.
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A poem is good until one knows by whom it is.
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Let language be the divining rod that finds the sources of thought.
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It is the mission of the press to disseminate intellect and at the same time destroy receptivity to it.
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I can say with pride that I have spent days and nights not reading anything, and that with unflagging energy I use every moment toacquire gradually an encyclopedic lack of education.
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Experiences are savings which a miser puts aside. Wisdom is an inheritance which a wastrel cannot exhaust.
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Social reform is the desperate decision to remove corns from a person suffering from cancer.
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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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They judge lest they be judged.
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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.
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A woman who cannot be ugly is not beautiful.
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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.
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My language is the common prostitute that I turn into a virgin.
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Jealousy is a dog's bark which attracts thieves.
Karl Kraus