Karl Kraus on the sad human condition
We are only human
One of those generally unknown intellectual figures much admired by those who know them — the novelist Jonathan Franzen edited a collection of his writings titled The Kraus Project — Karl Kraus was a crusading journalist in Vienna as editor of Die Fackel (The Torch) from 1899 till his death in 1936. He seems to have attacked nearly everyone, including former friends and benefactors. He’s most known now for his aphorisms. These are taken from the posthumous collection No Compromise: Selected Writings of Karl Kraus. The second set appeared here.
When someone has behaved like an animal, he says: “I am only human.” But when he is treated like an animal, he says: “I, too, am a human being.”
That we are all only human, is not an excuse but a presumption.
A cigar, said the altruist, a cigar, my dear fellow, I cannot give you. But if you ever need a light, just come round; mine is always lit.
Jealousy is a dog's barking that attracts thieves.
Nationalism is the love that ties me to the fatheads of my country, the insulters of my moral sense, the profaners of my language.
War is at first the hope that things will get better for oneself; after that the expectation that things will get worse for the other; then satisfaction that things are no better for the other; and after that astonishment that things are going badly for both.
The words "family ties" have a flavor of truth.
The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people worse.
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