“Democracy! Bah! When I hear that I reach for my feather boa!”

— Allen Ginsberg

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Allen Ginsberg 76

American poet 1926–1997

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“When I hear the word culture, I reach for my Browning!”

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"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.

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“A weapon, I told Horus. I need a weapon.
I reached into the Duat and pulled out an ostrich feather.
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“When I reached thirty I looked back on my past.”

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Context: When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. The previous victories were not due to my having mastered strategy. Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of heaven, or that other schools' strategy was inferior. After that I studied morning and evening searching for the principle, and came to realise the Way of strategy when I was fifty.
Since then I have lived without following any particular Way. Thus with the virtue of strategy I practise many arts and abilities — all things with no teacher. To write this book I did not use the law of Buddha or the teachings of Confucius, neither old war chronicles nor books on martial tactics. I take up my brush to explain the true spirit of this Ichi school as it is mirrored in the Way of heaven and Kwannon. The time is the night of the tenth day of the tenth month, at the hour of the tiger.

“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

“I wear your kiss like a feather
Laid upon my cheek”

Stephen Spender (1909–1995) English poet and man of letters

"Two Kisses"
The Still Centre (1939)

“How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not "the thing with feathers." The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich.”

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Source: Without Feathers

“When I hear Kannada, my heart leaps up and I am all ears.”

Kuvempu (1904–1994) Kannada novelist, poet, playwright, critic, and thinker

Quoted in A Few inches of Ivory, 24 November 2013, Jstor Organization http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/23001425?uid=3738256&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102981873241,

“Democracy! Bah! When I hear that I reach for my feather boa!”

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Allen Ginsberg 76

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