QuoteProject
Das war ein vorspeil nur; That was only a prelude; dort wo man Buecher verbrennt, Where one burns books, vebrennt man auch am Ende One will also burn people Menchen. Eventually.
Heinrich Heine
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote warns against the dangers of censorship and the suppression of ideas, suggesting that such actions may lead to greater atrocities.

Heinrich Heine's quote expresses a profound warning about the consequences of censorship and the destruction of knowledge. By stating that where books are burned, people will eventually also be burned, he highlights the inherent danger of suppressing dissenting ideas and the slippery slope it creates towards violence and oppression. It serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting freedom of thought and expression.

Themes

CensorshipFreedomIdeasOppressionKnowledge

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech advocating for free speech, one might quote Heine to emphasize the risks of censorship.

More from Heinrich Heine

Life is all too wondrous sweet, and the world is so beautifully bewildered; it is the dream of an intoxicated divinity.
Heinrich HeineRead
Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.
Heinrich HeineRead
I care little in the existence of a heaven or hell; self respect does not allow me to guide my acts with an eye toward heavenly salvation or hellish punishment. I pursue the good in life because it is beautiful and attracts me; and shun the bad because it is ugly and repulsive. All our acts should originate from the spring of unselfish love, whether there be a continuation after death or not.
Heinrich HeineRead
I wept in my dreams. I dreamed you lay in the grave; I awoke, and the tears still poured down my cheeks. I wept in my dreams, I dreamed you had left me; I awoke and I went on weeping long and bitterly. I wept in my dreams, I dreamed you were still kind to me; I awoke, and still the flow of my tears streams on.
Heinrich HeineRead
Oh, they loved dearly: their souls kissed, they kissed with their eyes, they were both but one single kiss.
Heinrich HeineRead
Where books are burned in the end people will be burned too.
Heinrich HeineRead

Similar quotes

I dream a dream that dreams back at me.
Toni MorrisonRead
I was raised as an Orthodox Jew in a major neighborhood specializing in that, in Brooklyn. And somewhere when I was about 14, something changed. And that change probably involved updating every molecule in my body, in that I sort of realized: this is nonsense, there's no God, there's no free will, there is no purpose.
Robert SapolskyRead
How gladly would I meet mortality, my sentence, and be earth in sensible! How glad would lay me down, as in my mother's lap! There I should rest, and sleep secure.
John MiltonRead
An honest man's the noblest work of God.
Alexander PopeRead
There is no harm in patience, and no profit in lamentation. Death is easier to bear (than) that which precedes it, and more severe than that which comes after it. Remember the death of the Apostle of God, and your sorrow will be lessened.
Abu BakrRead
History is neither written nor made without love or hate.
Theodor MommsenRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.