Democracy divides people into workers and loafers. It makes no provision for those who have no time to work.
Moral responsibility is what is lacking in a man when he demands it of a woman.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the hypocrisy in demanding moral responsibility from others while failing to uphold it oneself, particularly in gender dynamics.
Karl Kraus emphasizes the moral hypocrisy that often exists in societal expectations around gender roles. In this quote, he suggests that when a man expects a woman to bear the burden of moral responsibility, it often reflects his own inadequacies and lack of accountability. This statement critiques the unequal standards that society places on men and women, urging for a deeper understanding of personal responsibility and equality.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about gender roles, to highlight the need for shared responsibility.
More from Karl Kraus
All quotes βThe mission of the press is to spread culture while destroying the attention span.
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.
Stupidity is an elemental force for which no earthquake is a match.
Experiences are savings which a miser puts aside. Wisdom is an inheritance which a wastrel cannot exhaust.
Sexuality poorly repressed unsettles some families; well repressed, it unsettles the whole world.
Similar quotes
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I think the O.J. Simpson trial was a revelation about the ongoing patterns of racial difference in American society.
It would be erroneous to say Sohrab was quiet. Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it. Sohrab's silence wasn't the self imposed silence of those with convictions, of protesters who seek to speak their cause by not speaking at all. It was the silence of one who has taken cover in a dark place, curled up all the edges and tucked them under.
One should always be drunk. That's all that matters...But with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you chose. But get drunk.
If truth is not undergirded by love, it makes the possessor of that truth obnoxious and the truth repulsive.