Goebbels Joseph Quotes & Sayings

Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place ... — Joseph Goebbels

This is the secret of propaganda: Those who are to be persuaded by it should be completely immersed in the ideas of the propaganda, without ever noticing that they are being immersed in it. — Joseph Goebbels

If you tell a lie long enough, it becomes the truth. — Joseph Goebbels

Our starting point is not the individual:
We do not subscribe to the view that one should feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, or clothe the naked ... Our objectives are different: We must have a healthy people in order to prevail in the world. — Joseph Goebbels

We have made the Reich by propaganda — Joseph Goebbels

A law against hating Jews is usually the beginning of the end for the Jews. — Joseph Goebbels

A Jew is for me an object of disgust. I feel like vomiting when I see one. Christ could not possibly have been a Jew. It is not necessary to prove that scientifically - it is a fact. I do not need to prove this with science or scholarship. It is so! — Joseph Goebbels

The people's community must not be a mere phrase, but a revolutionary achievement following from the radical carrying out of the basic life needs of the working class. A ruthless battle against corruption! A war against exploitation, freedom for the workers! The elimination of all economic-capitalist influences on national policy ... Maintaining a rotten economic system has nothing to do with nationalism, which is an affirmation of the Fatherland. I can love Germany and hate capitalism. Not only can I, I must. — Joseph Goebbels

The end of the year! I draw the balance. Inquiry of conscience and request to the Spirit for progress and maturity. — Joseph Goebbels

Christianity is not a religion for the masses, let alone for all. Cultivated by few and translated into deeds, it is one of the most splendid blossoms that can grow in the soul of a good man. — Joseph Goebbels

Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even imagine today? — Joseph Goebbels

[Hitler thought] that Mussolini was no figure of world history, like der Fuehrer or Stalin. — Joseph Goebbels

You have nothing to fear, if you have nothing to hide — Joseph Goebbels

If we are attacked we can only defend ourselves with guns not with butter. — Joseph Goebbels

To be modern only means to fill new forms with eternal truths. — Joseph Goebbels

Intellectual activity is a danger to the building of character. — Joseph Goebbels

If you tell a lie, tell a big one. — Joseph Goebbels

Hereafter we all have to be redeemed. The world is pulling with a thousand strings. We sin because of indifference and negligence and heap new guilt on the old original one. Our life is a
chain of sin and expiation controlled by a destiny that can not be understood. — Joseph Goebbels

Man only honors what he conquers or defends. — Joseph Goebbels

Once more a red fire blows steeply upwards ... the factory will do no more work for Herr Churchill ... tomorrow morning Coventry will lie in smoke and ruins. — Joseph Goebbels

Though anti-Semitism had been only one of several sources of Nazi voting strength, after 1933 Hitler placed anti-Semitic ideologues, the most important of whom were Joseph Goebbels, Otto Dietrich and Alfred Rosenberg, at the top of the key opinion-shaping institutions. In a dictatorship resting on the 'leadership principle', Hitler's anti-Semitic convictions defined policy. — Jeffrey Herf

I'm so despondent about everything. Everything I try goes totally wrong. There's no escape from this hole here. I feel drained. So far, I still haven't found a real purpose in life. Sometimes, I'm afraid to get out of bed in the morning. There's nothing to get up for. — Joseph Goebbels

Revolutions are spiritual acts. They appear first in people, then in politics and the economy. New people form new structures. The transformation we want is first of all spiritual; that will necessarily change the way things are. — Joseph Goebbels

The experience of the individual has become the experience of the people, thanks solely to the camera. — Joseph Goebbels

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State. — Joseph Goebbels

The life is worth living. It's not true, what the tired and reactionary say. We're not on this earth to suffer and die. We're here to fulfill a mission. — Joseph Goebbels

A mother who is not everything for her children: a friend, a teacher, a confidant, a source of joy and founded pride, inducement and soothing, reconciliator, judge and forgiver, that mother obviously chose the wrong job. — Joseph Goebbels

The war we are fighting until victory or the bitter end is in its deepest sense a war between Christ and Marx. Christ: the principle of love. Marx: the principle of hate. — Joseph Goebbels

If you tell the same lie enough times, people will believe it; and the bigger the lie, the better. — Joseph Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels had artfully accomplished what all good propagandists must, convincing the world that their version of reality was reasonable and their opponents' version biased. In doing that, Goebbels had not only created a compelling vision of the new Germany but also undercut the Nazis' opponents in the West - whether they were American Jews in New York City or members of Parliament in London or anxious Parisians - making all of them seem shrill, hysterical, and misinformed. As thousands of Americans returned home from the games that fall, many of them felt as one quoted in a German propaganda publication did: "As for this man Hitler. . . . Well I believe we should all like to take him back to America with us and have him organize there just as he has done in Germany. — Daniel James Brown

To attract people, to win over people to that which I have realized as being true, that is called propaganda. — Joseph Goebbels

If Christ came back he would drive his treacherous servants out of the temple with a whip. — Joseph Goebbels

A media system wants ostensible diversity that conceals an actual uniformity — Joseph Goebbels

Should the German people lay down their arms, the Soviets ... would occupy all eastern and south-eastern Europe, together with the greater part of the [German] Reich. All over this territory, which would be of an enormous extent, an iron curtain would at once descend. — Joseph Goebbels

To be a socialist means to let the ego serve the neighbour, to sacrifice the self for the whole. In its deepest sense socialism equals service. The individual refrains and the commonwealth
demands. — Joseph Goebbels

Mozart didn't need a scheme for his music. He played and sang with the heavenly lightness of a child. — Joseph Goebbels

We shall go down in history as the greatest statesmen of all time,or as the greatest criminals — Joseph Goebbels

Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state, for every form of power politics and any dictatorship-run state has its roots in the street. — Joseph Goebbels

The war made possible for us the solution of a whole series of problems that could never have been solved in normal times. — Joseph Goebbels

Photography today is accomplishing a lofty mission in which every German should collaborate by buying a camera. The German people is ahead of every other in the technical domain and, thanks to its exceptional qualities, the small camera has conquered the whole world ... Much is at stake here from the point of view of popular consumer goods and, furthermore, photography has a particularly important political role to play. (Addressing the Berlin Photography Fair, 1933) — Joseph Goebbels

When I sit near the ocean in the morning and write my verses and breathe the salty wind which is coming from the water, I rejoice in God and I am blissful, as I was as a child. — Joseph Goebbels

It is on this beautiful day that we celebrate the Fuhrers birthday and thank him for he is the only reason why Germany is still alive today — Joseph Goebbels

The fatherland shall one day be like this: We're not all equal, but we're all brothers. — Joseph Goebbels

The rank and file are usually much more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious. — Joseph Goebbels

The modern man is necessarily a seeker of God, maybe a Man of Christ. — Joseph Goebbels

If we have power, we'll never give it up again unless we're carried out of our offices as corpses — Joseph Goebbels

The masses need something that will give them a thrill of horror. — Joseph Goebbels

The age of hairsplitting Jewish intellectualism is dead ... The past lies in flames. — Joseph Goebbels

The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. — Joseph Goebbels

If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes accepted as truth. — Joseph Goebbels

It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise. — Joseph Goebbels

It takes a bomb under his arse to make Hitler see logic. — Joseph Goebbels

We shall reach our goal, when we have the power to laugh as we destroy, as we smash, whatever was sacred to us as tradition, as education, and as human affection. — Joseph Goebbels

A nation without a religion - that is like a man without breath. — Joseph Goebbels

We have had much to bear already. And still more will we have to bear. Let us thank God for being young. — Joseph Goebbels

The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed. — Joseph Goebbels

To be a socialist is to submit the I to the thou; socialism is sacrificing the individual to the whole. — Joseph Goebbels

That propaganda is good which leads to success, and that is bad which fails to achieve the desired result. It is not propaganda's task to be intelligent, its task is to lead to success. — Joseph Goebbels

If the German people lay down their arms the whole of Eastern and Southern Europe, together with the Reich, will come under Russian occupation. Behind an iron curtain mass butcheries of people would begin. — Joseph Goebbels

Propaganda is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. If the means achieves the end then the means is good ... the new Ministry has no other aim than to unite the nation behind the ideal of the national revolution. — Joseph Goebbels

His arrogance marked something new in the world, for this was the first war where the losers would write history instead of the victors, courtesy of the most efficient propaganda machine ever created (with all due respect to Joseph Goebbels and the Nazis, who never achieved global domination). Hollywood's high priests understood innately the observation of Milton's Satan, that it was better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven, better to be a villain, loser, or antihero than virtuous extra, so long as one commanded the bright lights of center stage. In this forthcoming Hollywood trompe l'oeil, all the Vietnamese of any side would come out poorly, herded into the roles of the poor, the innocent, the evil, or the corrupt. Our fate was not to be merely mute; we were to be struck dumb. — Viet Thanh Nguyen

Nazi propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels once remarked that if a lie is told often enough people will begin to see the lie as truth. — Paul Watson

We enter parliament in order to supply ourselves, in the arsenal of democracy, with its own weapons. If democracy is so stupid as to give us free tickets and salaries for this bear's work, that is its affair. We do not come as friends, nor even as neutrals. We come as enemies. As the wolf bursts into the flock, so we come. — Joseph Goebbels

I'm looking for the teacher who is simple enough to be great, and great enough to be simple. — Joseph Goebbels

During a war, news should be given out for instruction rather than information. — Joseph Goebbels

Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated
are confident they are acting on their own free will. — Joseph Goebbels

Not every item of news should be published. Rather must those who control news policies endeavor to make every item of news serve a certain purpose. — Joseph Goebbels

The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it. — Joseph Goebbels

As socialists, we are opponents of the Jews, because we see in the Hebrews the incarnation of capitalism, of the misuse of the nation's goods. — Joseph Goebbels

We can do without butter, but, despite all our love of peace, not without arms. One cannot shoot with butter, but with guns. — Joseph Goebbels

In the newspapers there is insulting and stirring up hatred. Those irresponsible daubers! — Joseph Goebbels

I believe in God. When everything collapses, we grip the last hold, we look from the secure haven how the godless society of the old, holy Europe falls apart. May the game begin. — Joseph Goebbels

THERE WILL COME A DAY WHEN ALL THE LIES WILL COLLAPSE UNDER THEIR OWN WEIGHT, AND THE TRUTH WILL TRIUMPH AGAIN — Joseph Goebbels

Success is the important thing. Propaganda is not a matter for average minds, but rather a matter for practitioners. It is not supposed to be lovely or theoretically correct. I do not care if I give wonderful, aesthetically elegant speeches, or speak so that women cry. The point of a political speech is to persuade people of what we think right. I speak differently in the provinces than I do in Berlin, and when I speak in Bayreuth, I say different things than I say in the Pharus Hall. That is a matter of practice, not of theory. We do not want to be a movement of a few straw brains, but rather a movement that can conquer the broad masses. Propaganda should be popular, not intellectually pleasing. It is not the task of propaganda to discover intellectual truths. — Joseph Goebbels

Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred. — Joseph Goebbels

Every age that has historical status is governed by aristocracies.Aristocracy with the meaning - the best are ruling.Peoples do never govern themselves. That lunacy was concocted by liberalism. Behind its people's sovereignty the slyest cheaters are hiding, who don't want to be recognized. — Joseph Goebbels

Good propaganda does not need to lie, indeed it may not lie. It has no reason to fear the truth. It is a mistake to believe that people cannot take the truth. They can. It is only a matter of presenting the truth to people in a way that they will be able to understand. A propaganda that lies proves that it has a bad cause. It cannot be successful in the long run. — Joseph Goebbels

Crisis is the path to happiness. Decay and disintegration do not spell doom, but ascent and beginning. The powerful forces of a new creation operate in the hush beyond the noise of the day. — Joseph Goebbels

Hitler and Joseph Goebbels understood that if you say something loud and long enough many people will believe it. A good journalist's first priority should be to separate propaganda from fact - but sometimes its very hard to do that. — Bill O'Reilly

Devotion, fervor, longing! Those are my pillars. We have to be the bridge to the future. — Joseph Goebbels

He who cannot hate the devil cannot love God. — Joseph Goebbels

Christ cannot possibly have been a Jew. I don't have to prove that scientifically. It's a fact. — Joseph Goebbels

What does Christianity mean today? National Socialism is a religion. All we lack is a religious genius capable of uprooting outmoded religious practices and putting new ones in their place. We lack traditions and ritual. One day soon National Socialism will be the religion of all Germans. My Party is my church, and I believe I serve the Lord best if I do his will, and liberate my oppressed people from the fetters of slavery. That is my gospel. — Joseph Goebbels

At night I sit in my chamber and read the bible . Far in the distance roars the sea. Then I lie down and think for a long time about the calm and pale man from Nazareth. — Joseph Goebbels

Today there seems to be only one absolute thing: relativism. — Joseph Goebbels

A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth — Joseph Goebbels

There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the **er, and this will always be "the man in the street." Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology. — Joseph Goebbels

The night folds her trembling hands over a weary world. Out of a pale blue rises the shining moon. My thoughts are flying to the stars like lonely swans. — Joseph Goebbels

Hypocrisy is the characteristic feature of the dying bourgeois epoch. — Joseph Goebbels

Short shrift is made of the Jews in all eastern occupied areas. Tens of thousands of them are liquidated. — Joseph Goebbels

I would like to be a parson on this island. Explain the Sermon on the Mount to ordinary people and let the world be the world. — Joseph Goebbels

Do not seek Adolf Hitler with your mind. You will find him through the strength of your hearts. — Joseph Goebbels

When I hear the word 'culture,' I get out my revolver. — Joseph Goebbels

It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion. — Joseph Goebbels

If the day should ever come when we must go, if some day we are compelled to leave the scene of history, we will slam the door so hard that the universe will shake and mankind will stand back in stupefaction.. — Joseph Goebbels

The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous. — Joseph Goebbels

Leni Riefenstahl was the one person Goebbels had no control over in the filmmaking community of Nazi Germany, and they despised each other. But because she was Hitler's favorite, she could do what she wanted. She was the only filmmaker that did not have to cow down to Joseph Goebbels. — Quentin Tarantino

The money pigs of capitalist democracy: Money has made slaves of us. Money is the curse of mankind. It smothers the seed of everything great and good. Every penny is sticky with sweat and blood. — Joseph Goebbels

Man is and remains an animal.Here a beast of prey, there a housepet, but always an animal. — Joseph Goebbels

The night is my best friend. It calms the storm in my soul and it lets the guiding stars rise. — Joseph Goebbels