Ludwig Klages

Ludwig Klages

Friedrich Konrad Eduard Wilhelm Ludwig Klages (10 December 1872 – 29 July 1956) was a German philosopher, psychologist, graphologist, poet, writer, and lecturer, who was a two-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Quotes

• The profundity of truth varies with the seeing power of the spirit which seeks it.
  • The Science of Character (1929), as translated by W. H. Johnston, p. 18

• The great masses, who have never been, in the history of mankind, more subject to hypnotic suggestion than they are right now, have become the puppets of the “public opinion” that is engineered by the newspapers in the service, it need hardly be emphasized, of the reigning powers of finance. What is printed in the morning editions of the big city newspapers is the opinion of nine out of ten readers by nightfall. The United States of America, whose more rapid “progress” enables us to predict the future on a daily basis, has pulled far ahead of the pack when it comes to standardizing thought, work, entertainment, etc.
  • Sämtliche Werke, vol. 4, p. 408, as translated by Joseph Pryce

• Thus, the United States in 1917 went to war against Germany in sincere indignation because the newspapers had told them that Prussian "militarism" was rioting in devilish atrocities as it attempted to conquer the world. Of course, these transparent lies were published in the daily rags because the ruling lords of Mammon knew that American intervention in Europe would fatten their coffers. Thus, whereas the Americans thought that they were fighting for such high-minded slogans as “liberty" and "justice," they were actually fighting to stuff the money bags of the big bankers. These "free citizens" are, in fact, mere marionettes; their freedom is imaginary, and a brief glance at American work-methods and leisure-time entertainments is enough to prove conclusively that l’homme machine is not merely imminent: it is already the American reality.
  • Sämtliche Werke, vol. 4, p. 409, as translated by Joseph Pryce

• I have never endorsed the claim that the Nazi big-wigs belonged to a superior race. However, I must also add that I have consistently refused to accept the claim of another such race as the chosen people. The arrogance is identical in both cases, but with this important distinction: after waging war against mankind for more than three thousand years, Judaism has finally achieved total victory over all nations of the earth.
  • Quoted in, Schroder, Hans Eggert (1966), Ludwig Klages, Die Geschichte Seines Lebens (in German). Bouvier (published 1992)

Rhythmen und Runen (1944)

• Christianity is the war against sleep and dream.
  • p. 253

• Many first possess wealth, and are then possessed by it.
  • p. 253

• A man who cannot climb a tree will boast of never having fallen out of one.
  • p. 466

• Beauty is but the cloak of happiness. Where joy tarries, there also is beauty.
  • p. 468

• Everything purposeful is meaningless, and everything meaningful is purposeless.
  • p. 280