Fire Quote by Karl Kraus
“The trouble with Germans is not that they fire shells, but that they engrave them with quotations from Kant.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: The German Question, 1915
Germans kill with shells and also with intellectualizing, quoting Kant.
In simple terms: Violence paired with lofty ideas.
Key Takeaway
Beware of ideas that mask harm.
Themes
war
intellectualism
propaganda
Mood
critical
ironic
Type
satirical
political
When to use this quote
- military training
- political debate
- media analysis
- education curricula
Key Concepts
critical theory
ethics
Questions to Reflect On
- Do quotations justify aggression?
- How does philosophy influence warfare?
A Different Perspective
Intellectualizing can obscure the brutality of violence.
![“[Dostoyevsky] eloquently proves that heartless ideas are often a source of immorality: they bring with them destructiveness, hatred, cynicism, and misanthropy. The novelist also carefully examines moral indifference and corruption which leads him to the questions: “What if reason takes the side of…” quote by George L. Kline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c87/george-l-kline-239544_dostoevsky_dostoyevsky-eloquently-proves-that-heart_53378.jpg)
![“Next came the Patent laws. These began in England in 1624; and, in this country, with the adoption of our constitution. Before then [these?], any man might instantly use what another had invented; so that the inventor had no special advantage from his own invention. The patent system changed this…” quote by Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/449/abraham-lincoln-88_adoption_next-came-the-patent-laws-these-began-in_1828.jpg)
