Karl Kraus

Karl Kraus
Karl Krauswas an Austrian writer and journalist, known as a satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright and poet. He directed his satire at the press, German culture, and German and Austrian politics. The Austrian author Stefan Zweig once called Kraus "the master of venomous ridicule"...
NationalityAustrian
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth28 April 1874
CountryAustria
women
It is not true that one cannot live without a woman. It is simply that one cannot have lived without one.
style want doe
I master only the language of others. Mine does with me what it wants.
men language endless
Language is the only chimera whose illusory power is endless, the inexhaustibility which keeps life from being impoverished. Let men learn to serve language.
ideas language wells
I have drawn from the well of language many a thought which I do not have and which I could not put into words.
art boredom looks
A philistine is habitually bored and looks for things that won't bore him. An artist finds things boring, but is never bored.
knowledge stupidity rooms
In a hollow head there is much room for knowledge.
writing numbers poison
A good writer does not receive anywhere near the number of poison-pen letters that is commonly assumed. Among a hundred jackassesthere are not ten who will admit to being jackasses, and at most one who will put it in writing.
language source
Let language be the divining rod that finds the sources of thought.
truth errors birth
Who is going to cast out an error to which he has given birth and replace it with an adopted truth?
memories objectivity should-have
A good stylist should have narcissistic enjoyment as he works. He must be able to objectivize his work to such an extent that he catches himself feeling envious and has to jog his memory to find that he is himself the creator. In short, he must display that highest degree of objectivity which the world calls vanity.
running years cleaning
In a well-run mental household there ought to be a thorough cleaning at the threshold of consciousness a few times a year.
newspapers fortune metaphysics
Newspapers have roughly the same relationship to life as fortune-tellers to metaphysics.
plagiarism should hundred
A plagiarist should be made to copy the author a hundred times.
immortality tolerate
Immortality is the only thing which doesn't tolerate being postponed.