333 Quotes by Karl Kraus

Let language be the divining rod that finds the sources of thought.

This is something that I cannot get over -- that a whole line could be written by half a man, that a work could be built on the quicksand of a character.

Who is going to cast out an error to which he has given birth and replace it with an adopted truth?

When I don't make any progress, it is because I have bumped into the wall of language. Then I draw back with a bloody head. And would like to go on.

Matrimony is the union of meanness and martyrdom.

My request that my writing be read twice has aroused great indignation. Unjustly so. After all, I do not ask that they be read once.

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.

Solitude would be ideal if you could pick the people to avoid.

The discovery of the North Pole is one of those realities which could not be avoided. It is the wages which human perseverance pays itself when it thinks that something is taking too long. The world needed a discoverer of the North Pole, and in all areas of social activity, merit was less important here than opportunity.