“Whenever I hear of culture … I release the safety catch of my Browning!”
Hanns Johst (1890–1978) German general
Wenn ich Kultur höre … entsichere ich meinen Browning!
Schlageter
"When I hear the word culture, I reach for my revolver" was also is used in the 1981 Cannes Film Festival Award winner Mephisto spoken by a character known as "The General" in the English dubbed version.
Misattributed
Variant: "When I hear the word culture, I reach for my revolver." Often attributed to Göring, who might have used such lines, these statements are derived from those in the play Schlageter by Hanns Johst: "Wenn ich Kultur höre … entsichere ich meinen Browning!" [Whenever I hear of culture... I release the safety-catch of my Browning!] (Act 1, Scene 1) The play was first performed in April 1933 for Hitler's birthday. Reported as a misattribution in Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions (1989), p. 36.
“Whenever I hear of culture … I release the safety catch of my Browning!”
Hanns Johst (1890–1978) German general
Wenn ich Kultur höre … entsichere ich meinen Browning!
Schlageter
“When I hear the word Culture I take out my checkbook”
Barbara Kruger (1945) American artist
Words on an untitled artwork (1985)
A takeoff on the quote "Whenever I hear the word 'Culture,' I reach for my revolver," from Hans Johst, Schlageter (1933), act I, scene I (actual quote: Wenn ich Kultur höre … entsichere ich meinen Browning! [Whenever I hear of culture... I release the safety-catch of my Browning!])
Paraphrased from The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, '"When I heard the word 'culture,'" said Dr. Sarvis "I reach for my checkbook."' pg. 109
“When I hear the words "social responsibility", I want to reach for my gun.”
Eric S. Raymond (1957) American computer programmer, author, and advocate for the open source movement
When receiving an award from an organization called Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.
[Geeks Win: A survey of the oddballs who write the codes that make the 21st-century world go round, The New York Times Book Review, BR18, 03624331, 4 November 2001]
“Every time I hear the word culture I release the safety catch on my 9mm.”
Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter
Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall (2001)
“Democracy! Bah! When I hear that I reach for my feather boa!”
Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) American poet
Paul Simon (1941) American musician, songwriter and producer
The Sound of Silence
Song lyrics, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (1964)
Bel Kaufmanová book Up the Down Staircase
Part X, ch. 51 (Sylvia Barrett)
Up the Down Staircase (1965)
Regina Spektor (1980) American singer-songwriter and pianist
"Fidelity"
Begin to Hope (2006)
Context: I never loved nobody fully
Always one foot on the ground
And by protecting my heart truly
I got lost in the sounds
I hear in my mind
All these voices
I hear in my mind all these words
I hear in my mind all this music
And it breaks my heart
It breaks my heart...
William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist
Source: Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk (1782), Line 9.