"Irony, forsooth! Guard yourself, Engineer, from the sort of irony that thrives up here; guard yourself altogether from taking on their mental attitude! Where irony is not a direct and classic device of oratory, not for a moment equivocal to a healthy mind, it makes for depravity, it becomes a drawback to civilization, an unclean traffic with the forces of reaction, vice and materialism."
Thomas Mann

January 1, 1970

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Original Language: English

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https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann