"German orientalists, A.W. Schlegel claimed in 1819, were not suited to be missionaries or colonizers: “... on the other hand, they are all the more ideally suited to appreciate the world-historical, philological and philosophical insights the study of Indian monuments can offer. For the kinds of research that sharpen the eye for these sorts of perspectives on the unknown, prehistorical world are already deeply rooted in Germany, and foreign scholars cannot even imagine many of the concepts which the Germans already thoroughly comprehend.’"

"Nur stets zu sprechen, ohne was zu sagen, Das war von je der Redner größte Gabe."

"The desire for power is the most reliable of emotions."

"Even aperson deprived of his own ideas and individuality, at the very moment he gains power, acquires substance and content The function of power is to transform the inner being of the holder of power. Power credit and fame create individuality and a face for a person deprived of these qualities by nature."

"Without darkness there would be no concept of light For light to be self aware it must have its opposite—darkness."

"Tall as they grow, the flowers Are pale here, as if dead. Just one right in the middle Stands there so dark and red. Its hue is not from the daylight, No sun has burned this bud, Its red is from the earth bed, And that drank human blood!"

"Was du teurer bezahlst, die Lüge oder die Wahrheit? Jene kostet dein Ich, diese doch höchstens dein Glück."

"As the misfortune befell in November [1918], I threw myself into the woodcut.. .It is a technique that provokes one to confession, to the unmistakable statement of what one finally means. It, or far more she, enforces a certain general validity of expression.. .I have finished a number of large woodcuts that deal with all of the distress of the times."

"The disdain for culture expressed by Johst and Fanon is not identical, however. Both despise the deceit of culture, but for opposite reasons. For Johst, culture is in itself a fraud, the cheap talk of weaklings; for Fanon, culture deceives by reneging on its promises. Johst and the Nazis hated culture itself; Fanon hated its hypocrisy, a very different notion."

"Wenn ich Kultur höre … entsichere ich meinen Browning!"

"Imagine that. All the men of Germany marching in step with even their wotsits hanging the same way."

"Oh that music - how it goes through one -"

"Sudhof's general characterization stresses three points: 1. Although Zuckmayer never pursued narrow topical ideas, his goal was to protect man, to formulate the claim of humaneness. ...he tried to transfer the traditions of German classicism into modernity. 2. The landscape of Rhenish Hesse was an important element stressing ties to his home region in almost all of his works. 3. His work is not prophetic in character; it does not intend to proclaim any particular political or philosophical teaching but rather attempts to mirror his time... He is an optimistic author who believes in man's inherent good."

"I couldn't incriminate myself if I tried. And when it comes to the workings of the government I'd just as soon look away, anyway. You never know what you'll see."

"...Hades had opened its gates and vomited forth the basest, most despicable, most horrible demons. In the course of my life I had seen something of untrammeled human insights of horror of panic. I had taken part in a dozen battles in the First World War, had experienced barrages, gassings, going over the top. I had witnessed the turmoil of the postwar era, the crushing uprisings, street battles, meeting hall brawls. I was present among the bystanders during the Hitler Putsch in 1923 in Munich. I saw the early period of Nazi rule in Berlin. But none of this was comparable to those days in Vienna. What was unleashed upon Vienna had nothing to do with [the] seizure of power in Germany. ...What was unleashed upon Vienna was a torrent of envy, jealousy, bitterness, blind, malignant craving for revenge. All better instincts were silenced... only the torpid masses had been unchained. ...It was the witch's Sabbath of the mob. All that makes for human dignity was buried."

"Your earthly body is after all nothing more than a dress and inside it is a finer dress, and you yourself are in this finer dress."

"As to the black dwarfs, they wouldn’t allow anyone to look into them, because what is inside them is truly horrible. That is why they want everything on Earth to be as black and dark as they are themselves."

"We are all asleep in the glass coffin."

"Eine Familie, die keine schwarzen Schafe hat, ist keine charakteristische Familie."

"Creativity is not limited to people practising one of the traditional forms of art, and even in the case of artists, creativity is not confined to the exercise of their art. Each one of us has a creative potential, which is hidden by competitiveness and success-aggression. To recognize, explore and develop this potential is the task of the School. Creation – whether it be a painting, sculpture, symphony or novel – involves not merely talent, intuition, powers of imagination and application, but also the ability to shape material that could be expanded to other socially relevant spheres."

"Er meidet die überaus geschmackvollen offiziellen »Helden«friedhöfe. Warum nur, so denkt er, tun die Deutschen so viel für ihre Toten und so wenig für ihre Lebenden?"

"Sie muss also zu weit gehen, um herauszufinden, wie weit sie gehen darf."

"Und müden Augen jedes Licht zu scharf, und müden Lippen jeder Hauch zu schwer, Lächelnd. und müden Ohren jedes Wort zu viel."

"Murder begins where self-defense ends."

"Do you know, Valerio, that even the least among all humans is so great that life is far too short to love him?"

"They say in the grave there is peace, and peace and the grave are one and the same."

"The statue of Freedom has not been cast yet, the furnace is hot, we can all still burn our fingers."

"Whoever finishes a revolution only halfway, digs his own grave."

"The death clock is ticking slowly in our breast, and each drop of blood measures its time, and our life is a lingering fever."

"Death is the most blessed dream."

"Revolution is like Saturn, it devours its own children."

"Government must be a transparent garment which tightly clings to the people’s body."

"You women could make someone fall in love even with a lie."

"The breath of an aristocrat is the death rattle of freedom."

"The revolution must end and the republic must begin. In our constitution, right must take the place of duty, welfare that of virtue, and self-defense that of punishment. Everyone must be able to prevail and to live according to one’s own nature."

"We are always on stage, even when we are stabbed in earnest at the end."

"There is something beautiful about virtue, Captain. But I am just a poor guy."

"Raise your eyes and count the small gang of your oppressors who are only strong through the blood they suck from you and through your arms which you lend them unwillingly."

"Germany is now a field of cadavers, soon she will be a paradise."

"Supreme power rests in the will of all or of the majority."

"A good man with a good conscience doesn’t walk so fast."

"How many women does one need to sing the scale of love all the way up and down?"

"In Germany, the judicial system has been the whore of the German princes for centuries."

"The state is therefore everyone; the rules within the state are laws which safeguard the welfare of all and which must originate from the welfare of all."

"One must love humanity in order to reach out into the unique essence of each individual: no one can be too low or too ugly."

"Peace to the shacks! War on the palaces!"

"The revolutionary government is the despotism of liberty against tyranny."

"There are only Epicureans, either crude or refined; Christ was the most refined."

"The weapon of the Republic is terror, and virtue is its strength."

"People like us are unhappy in this world and in the next, I guess if we made it to heaven, we’d have to help make it thunder."