Kurt Tucholsky
The advantage of wisdom is that you can play dumb. The opposite is more difficult.Collection: Opposites
A country is not only what it does but what it tolerates.Collection: Country
Nothing is more difficult and nothing requires more character than to find oneself in open opposition to ones time (and those one loves) and to say loudly: No!Collection: Character
One man's death: that is a catastrophe. A hundred thousand dead: that is a statisticCollection: Men
Expect nothing. Today: that is your life.Collection: Advice
How wonderful it is, to be silent with someone.Collection: Wonderful
Language is a weapon, keep it honed!Collection: Advice
The world isn't purposeful. It isn't ruled by reason. The world wants to play. Fashion queens have always aroused more interest than future generations and their fate.Collection: Fashion
Those who hate most fervently must have once loved deeply; those who want to deny the world must have once embraced what they now set on fire.Collection: Hate
Germany is an anatomical oddity: it writes with its left hand and acts with its right.Collection: Writing
Revolution! The people howls and cries, Freedom, thats what were needing! Weve needed it for centuries, our arteries are bleeding. The stage is shaking, the audience rock. The whole thing is over by nine oclock.Collection: Rocks
You should always pay attentionto quality. A coffin, for instance, should laast a lifetime.Collection: Advice
Each economy relies on the credit system, that is, on the erroneous assumption that the other will pay back money pumped.Collection: Credit