The sublime is only a step removed from the ridiculous.

People at the top are closing ranks so tightly that all possibility of subjective deviation has gone, and difference can be sought only in the more distinguished cut of an evening dress.

Lies are told only to convey to someone that one has no need either of him or his good opinion.

The inadequacy of the purely purpose-oriented form is revealed for what it is-a monotonous, impoverished boring practicality.

Suffering has as much right to be expressed as a martyr has to cry out. So it may have been false to say that writing poetry after Auschwitz is impossible.

A German is someone who cannot tell a lie without believing it himself.

In the end indignation over kitsch is anger at tis shameless revelling in the joy of imitation.