“Every time I hear the word culture I release the safety catch on my 9mm.”
Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall (2001)
Wenn ich Kultur höre … entsichere ich meinen Browning!
Schlageter
Wenn ich Kultur höre… entsichere ich meine Browning.
"Schlageter", München 1933, 1. Akt, 1. Szene. Auch verwendet von Joseph Goebbels
Variant: Wenn ich Kultur höre … entsichere ich meinen Browning!
“Every time I hear the word culture I release the safety catch on my 9mm.”
Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall (2001)
“When I hear the word culture, I reach for my Browning!”
"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.
“When I hear the word Culture I take out my checkbook”
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
“Whenever I go to south India, I hear the songs of Saint Thyagaraja.”
Mahatma Gandhi quoted in [Bossy, Michel-Andre, Brothers, Thomas, John C., Artists, Writers, and Musicians, http://books.google.com/books?id=r0SOzr_0Ya4C&pg=PA185, 2001, Greenwood Publishing Group, 978-1-57356-154-9, 185]
http://artdistricts.com/clandestine-culture-between-street-art-and-social-activism/
“Whenever a thing is done for the first time, it releases a little demon.”
Quoted on the web sans source. Not in the complete Poems. A 2006 self-help book attributes it verbatim to Dave Sim (see below) sans source. A 2009 reprint of Poems: Second Series mentions it in the introduction sans source (thus probably taking it from the unsourced web quote). No earlier attributions found.
Compare to a quote sourced to Dave Sim: "Anything done for the first time unleashes a demon." (Cerebus #65, 1984)
Misattributed