Everyone is born into a certain era. I wouldn't want to see anyone faced with the circumstances that prevailed at the time, when there were few or no alternatives.
Gunter GrassRead
I belonged to the generation that grew up under National Socialism, and was blinded and led astray - and allowed itself to be led astray.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the dangers of being misled by ideologies and the personal responsibility of recognizing deception.
Gunter Grass's quote serves as a reflection on the moral and ethical implications of belonging to a generation that was influenced by National Socialism. It emphasizes the idea that individuals can become blind to the truths of their circumstances, allowing themselves to be misled by authoritarian ideologies, which leads to a collective moral failure. Grass acknowledges both the victimhood and complicity of those who followed a harmful path, highlighting the importance of critical thought and awareness in safeguarding against such influences.
Themes
National SocialismIdeologyDeceptionResponsibilityBlindness
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on the importance of historical awareness and critical thinking.
More from Gunter Grass
All quotes βI wept when the muse Ulla bent over me. Blinded by tears I could not prevent her from kissing me, I could not prevent the Muse from giving me that terrible kiss. All of you who have ever been kissed by the Muse will surely understand that Oskar, once branded by that kiss, was condemned to take back the drum he had rejected years before, the drum he had buried in the sand of Sapse Cemetery.
Gunter GrassRead
Today I know that all things are watching, that nothing goes unseen, that even wallpaper has a better memory than human beings.
Gunter GrassRead
I did not volunteer for the Waffen SS, but was, as were thousands of my year group, conscripted. I did not then know as a 17-year-old that it was a criminal unit. I thought it was an elite unit.
Gunter GrassRead
Art is uncompromising, and life is full of compromises.
Gunter GrassRead
If work and leisure are soon to be subordinated to this one utopian principle - absolute busyness - then utopia and melancholy will come to coincide: an age without conflict will dawn, perpetually busy - and without consciousness.
Gunter GrassRead
Similar quotes
The fish is my friend too...I have never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him. I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars. Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon, he thought. The moon runs away. But imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the sun? We were born lucky; he thought
Ernest HemingwayRead
There are such beings as vampires, some of us have evidence that they exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane peoples.
Bram StokerRead
The realisation that our small planet is only one of many worlds gives mankind the perspective it needs to realise sooner that our own world belongs to all its creatures.
Arthur C. ClarkeRead
In some ways, I had a traditional 'old South' upbringing, meaning that I spent some time in a military school, and acquired an inoculum of the military ethic that is still with me today: honor, duty, loyalty.
E. O. WilsonRead
Honest difference of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy among free men.
Herbert HooverRead
How nice -- to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.
Kurt VonnegutRead