“When I hear the word 'culture' I reach for my pistol.”

“When I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun”

“Einen guten Journalisten erkennt man daran, dass er sich nicht gemein macht mit einer Sache, auch nicht mit einer guten Sache; dass er überall dabei ist, aber nirgendwo dazugehört”

“And in the livid night there creeps a basilisk, spawned by the moon after its strange fashion. The moon – eternally barren - is its father, but its mother is the sand, barren likewise: this is the mystery of the desert. Many say that it is an animal, but this is not so, it is a thought, growing there where there is no earth and no seed: a thought which sprang from that which is eternally barren, and now assumes strange forms which life does not know. This is the reason that no one can describe this being, because it is like nothingness, indescribable.”

“Democracy! Bah! When I hear that I reach for my feather boa!”

“When politicians and civil servants hear the word culture they feel for their blue pencils.”

“In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses.”