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War is at first, the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that the other fellow isn't any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone's being worse off.

— Karl Kraus Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

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More quotes by Karl Kraus

Culture is the tacit agreement to let the means of subsistence disappear behind the purpose of existence.

In These Great Times : A Karl Kraus Reader (1976)

The secret of the demagogue is to appear as dumb as his audience so that these people can believe themselves as smart as he.

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

The tyranny of necessity grants its slaves three kinds of freedom: opinion free from intellect, entertainment free from art, and orgies free from love.

In These Great Times : A Karl Kraus Reader (1976)

My unconscious knows more about the consciousness of the psychologist than his consciousness knows about my unconscious.

An aphorism can never be the whole truth; it is either a half-truth or a truth-and-a-half.

All Karl Kraus quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Karl Kraus (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.