It is a strange fact that freedom and equality, the two basic ideas of democracy, are to some extent contradictory. Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive, just as society and the individual are mutually exclusive.

Quote by Thomas Mann

Topics: Thomas Mann Quotes

Opinions cannot survive if one has no chance to fight for them

Opinions cannot survive if one has no chance to fight for them

I never can understand how anyone can not smoke it deprives a man of the...

I never can understand how anyone can not smoke it deprives a man of the...

One always has the idea of a stupid man as perfectly healthy and ordinary, and...

One always has the idea of a stupid man as perfectly healthy and ordinary, and...

We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well...

We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well...

An art whose medium is language will always show a high degree of critical creativeness,...

An art whose medium is language will always show a high degree of critical creativeness,...

There is something suspicious about music, gentlemen. I insist that she is, by her nature,...

There is something suspicious about music, gentlemen. I insist that she is, by her nature,...

All interest in disease and death is only another expression of interest in life.

All interest in disease and death is only another expression of interest in life.

Animals do not admire each other. A horse does not admire its companion.

Animals do not admire each other. A horse does not admire its companion.

Space, like time, engenders forgetfulness; but it does so by setting us bodily free from...

Space, like time, engenders forgetfulness; but it does so by setting us bodily free from...

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other...

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other...

Democracy is timelessly human, and timelessness always implies a certain amount of potential youthfulness.

Democracy is timelessly human, and timelessness always implies a certain amount of potential youthfulness.

For the myth is the foundation of life; it is the timeless schema, the pious...

For the myth is the foundation of life; it is the timeless schema, the pious...

For to be poised against fatality, to meet adverse conditions gracefully, is more than simple...

For to be poised against fatality, to meet adverse conditions gracefully, is more than simple...

What is uttered is finished and done with.

What is uttered is finished and done with.

Every reasonable human being should be a moderate Socialist.

Every reasonable human being should be a moderate Socialist.

Solitude gives birth to the original in us, to beauty unfamiliar and perilous- to poetry....

Solitude gives birth to the original in us, to beauty unfamiliar and perilous- to poetry....

I don't think anyone is thinking long-term now.

I don't think anyone is thinking long-term now.

What we call National-Socialism is the poisonous perversion of ideas which have a long history...

What we call National-Socialism is the poisonous perversion of ideas which have a long history...

For the beautiful word begets the beautiful deed.

For the beautiful word begets the beautiful deed.

If you are possessed by an idea, you find it expressed everywhere, you even smell...

If you are possessed by an idea, you find it expressed everywhere, you even smell...