Karl Kraus Quotes
94 Thought-Provoking and Witty Quotes on Gender, Psychology, Language, Art, and More

Explore the thought-provoking and witty quotes of Karl Kraus, covering topics such as gender, psychology, language, art, and more. Discover the profound insights and unique perspectives of this renowned Austrian writer and satirist.

Karl Kraus was an Austrian satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright, and poet. He directed his satire at the press, German culture, and German and Austrian politics. Born into a wealthy Jewish family in Austria-Hungary, he enrolled as a law student at the University of Vienna but later switched to philosophy and German literature before discontinuing his studies. In 1899, he renounced Judaism and founded his own magazine called Die Fackel, through which he launched attacks on various subjects including hypocrisy, psychoanalysis, corruption, nationalism, and more. Kraus's work was published exclusively in Die Fackel, with well-known contributors in its early years before Kraus became the sole author.

Kraus's masterpiece is considered to be the play Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (The Last Days of Mankind), a satirical depiction of World War I which combines contemporary documents with apocalyptic fantasy. He also wrote numerous aphorisms which were collected in the book Sprüche und Widersprüche. In addition to his writings, Kraus gave highly influential public readings where he performed readings from various dramas and operettas accompanied by piano. He supported Frank Wedekind in staging Pandora's Box in Vienna in 1904 and was known for his attacks on prominent figures such as Maximilian Harden and Johann Schober.

Despite supporting the Social Democratic Party of Austria during the early 1920s and hoping that Engelbert Dollfuss could prevent Nazism from taking over Austria, Kraus became estranged from some of his followers when he supported Dollfuss's fascist regime. During Hitler's rise to power, Kraus withheld full publication of his satire on Nazi ideology called Die Dritte Walpurgisnacht (The Third Walpurgis Night) out of concern for friends living in Nazi Germany. The last issue of Die Fackel was published in 1936, shortly before Kraus's death. He never married but had a turbulent relationship with Baroness Sidonie Nádherná von Borutín from 1913 until his death. Kraus was baptized Catholic in 1911 but left the Church in 1923 due to disillusionment with its support for the war. He has been portrayed as a critic of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis, although some argue that he respected Freud with reservations about the application of his theories.

✵ 28. April 1874 – 12. June 1936
Karl Kraus photo

Works

Karl Kraus: 94   quotes 5   likes

Famous Karl Kraus Quotes

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

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“I am not for women but against men.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Science is spectral analysis. Art is light synthesis.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

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

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“The closer the look one takes at a word, the greater the distance from which it looks back.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people meaner.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

Karl Kraus Quotes about people

“If I return some people's greetings, I do so only to give them their greeting back.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Education is what most people receive, many pass on, and few have.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Solitude would be an ideal state if one were able to pick the people one avoids.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“I would have stage-fright if I had to speak with every one of the people before whom I speak.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“The secret of the demagogue is to appear as dumb as his audience so that these people can believe themselves as smart as he.”

Variant translation: The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so that they believe they are as clever as he.
Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

Karl Kraus Quotes about women

“Women at least have elegant dresses. But what can men use to cover their emptiness?”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“I like to hold a monologue with women. But a dialogue with myself is more stimulating.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“The immorality of men triumphs over the amorality of women.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

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

Sprüche und Widersprüche (Dicta and Contradictions) (1909); as translated by Richard Hanser

Karl Kraus: Trending quotes

“The world is a prison in which solitary confinement is preferable.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“To be sure, the dog is loyal. But why, on that account, should we take him as an example? He is loyal to man, not to other dogs.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)
Context: There is no doubt that a dog is loyal. But does that mean we should emulate him? After all, he is loyal to people, not to other dogs. http://books.google.com/books?id=T9V0j2sfPpUC&q=%22there+is+no+doubt+that+a+dog+is+loyal+but+does+that+mean+we+should+emulate+him+after+all+he+is+loyal+to+people+not+to+other+dogs%22&pg=PA109#v=onepage

Karl Kraus Quotes

“A woman who cannot be ugly is not beautiful.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“You don't even live once.”

Half-Truths and One-and-a-Half Truths: Selected Aphorisms
Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“An aphorism can never be the whole truth; it is either a half-truth or a truth-and-a-half.”

Die Fackel no. 270/71 (19 January 1909)
Die Fackel

“Nothing is more unfathomable than a woman's superficiality.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“The woman takes one for all, and the man all for one.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Only he is an artist who can make a riddle out of a solution.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“One of the most widespread diseases is diagnosis.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“One shouldn't learn more than what one absolutely needs against life.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“The real truths are those that can be invented.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Hate must make a person productive; otherwise one might as well love.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“A fine world in which man reproaches woman with fulfilling his heart's desire!”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Many things I am experiencing I already remember.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Progress celebrates Pyrrhic victories over nature.”

Der Fortschritt feiert Pyrrhussiege über die Natur.
Pro Domo et Mundo, 7, „Pro Domo et Mundo”

“Christianity has enriched the erotic meal with the appetizer of curiosity and the dessert of remorse.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“It is better not to express what one means than to express what one does not mean.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Progress … has subordinated the purpose of life to the means of subsistence and turned us into the nuts and bolts for our tools.”

“In these great times,” Harry Zohn, trans., In These Great Times (Montreal: 1976), pp. 73-74

“Sentimental irony is a dog that bays at the moon while pissing on graves.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Psychology is as useless as directions for using poison.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“My language is the common prostitute that I turn into a virgin.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Sound opinions are valueless. What matters is who holds them.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Sexuality poorly repressed unsettles some families; well repressed, it unsettles the whole world.”

Die Fackel no. 315/16 (26 January 1911)
Die Fackel

“Keep your passions in check, but beware of giving your reason free rein.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“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.”

“In these great times,” Harry Zohn, trans., In These Great Times (Montreal: 1976), p. 74

“When I read, it is not acted literature; but what I write is written acting.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“The superman is a premature ideal, one that presupposes a man.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Life is an effort that deserves a better cause.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Everyone is stopped and waiting, maitre d's, hansom cab drivers and governments. Everyone's waiting for the end. Let's hope the apocalypse is pleasant, Your Highness.”

1899, quoted in Franz Hare, Jahrhundertwende 1900: Untergangsstimmung und Fortschrittsglauben, Stuttgart, 1998, p. 190

“Language is the mother of thought, not its handmaiden.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“The making of a journalist: no ideas and the ability to express them.”

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

“Culture is the tacit agreement to let the means of subsistence disappear behind the purpose of existence.”

“In these great times,” Harry Zohn, trans., In These Great Times (Montreal: 1976), pp. 73-74

Similar authors

Karel Čapek photo
Karel Čapek 51
Czech writer
Václav Klaus photo
Václav Klaus 3
2nd President of the Czech Republic
Tomáš Baťa photo
Tomáš Baťa 7
Czech businessman
Václav Havel photo
Václav Havel 126
playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of …
Milan Kundera photo
Milan Kundera 198
Czech author of Czech and French literature
Emil Zátopek photo
Emil Zátopek 5
Czech Olympic long-distance runner
John Galsworthy photo
John Galsworthy 48
English novelist and playwright
Tennessee Williams photo
Tennessee Williams 139
American playwright
Eugene O'Neill photo
Eugene O'Neill 36
American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Literature
George Bernard Shaw photo
George Bernard Shaw 413
Irish playwright