Democracy divides people into workers and loafers. It makes no provision for those who have no time to work.
Karl KrausRead
An idea's birth is legitimate if one has the feeling that one is catching oneself plagiarizing oneself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A legitimate new idea can emerge from revisiting one's previous thoughts, suggesting self-inspiration can resemble self-plagiarism.
Karl Kraus suggests that the process of generating new ideas is often rooted in our previous thoughts. When we revisit our earlier concepts and draw new insights from them, it can feel like we are plagiarizing ourselves, yet this is a natural part of the creative process, highlighting how evolution in our thinking can lead to innovation.
Themes
IdeasCreativitySelf-PlagiarismInnovation
In practice
Example use cases
A writer discussing the evolution of their work might reference this quote to explain how revisiting old themes sparks new inspiration.
More from Karl Kraus
All quotes βThe mission of the press is to spread culture while destroying the attention span.
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War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost.
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Stupidity is an elemental force for which no earthquake is a match.
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Experiences are savings which a miser puts aside. Wisdom is an inheritance which a wastrel cannot exhaust.
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Sexuality poorly repressed unsettles some families; well repressed, it unsettles the whole world.
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Similar quotes
It is already possible to imagine a society in which the majority of the population, that is to say, its laborers, will have almost as much leisure as in earlier times was enjoyed by the aristocracy. When one recalls how aristocracies in the past actually behaved, the prospect is not cheerful.
W. H. AudenRead
Meditation upon death does not teach one how to die; it does not make the departure more easy, but ease is not what I seek. Beloved boy, so willful and brooding, your sacrifice will have enriched not my life but my death. ... Centuries as yet unborn within the dark womb of time would pass by thousands over that tomb without restoring life to him, but likewise without adding to his death, and without changing the fact that he had been.
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There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100% Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else
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History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.
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Belief is a moral act for which the believer is to be held responsible.
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One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null word.
Robert A. HeinleinRead