List of winged words / R

Revenge for Sadowa!

"Revenge for Sadowa!" (French: "Revanche pour Sadowa!") Demanded the French public from 1866 after Prussia defeated the armies of the Austrians and Saxons in the decisive battle of the German War , which was fought between the Bohemian villages Sadová and Königgrätz had devastated. France could no longer intervene in the war, as Prussia quickly made peace instead of taking advantage of the favorable situation for conquests. The fact that after Sadowa, instead of the usual German fragmentation with the North German Confederation, a powerful, united neighbor formed under Prussian supremacy, was viewed by the French as a Prussian victory over France, which was fought on the back of the Austrians, but for the Grande Nation is a "bloody humiliation and unprecedented humiliation in our (i.e. French) history".

The undisguised demands for war and the conquest of the areas on the left bank of the Rhine, as in the Rhine crisis in 1840, opened another chapter in the Franco-German hereditary enmity . The aim was to nip the new neighbor in the bud. The French declaration of war on the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 followed in 1870 .

Today Sadowa (Czech: Sadová) is a municipality with around 330 inhabitants in the Czech Republic , 15 kilometers northwest of the city center of Königgrätz (Czech: Hradec Králové), the administrative center of the Hradec Králové region with around 95,000 inhabitants.

Wheel of history

The phrase “the wheel of history” has been in use since the 18th century and stands for the progress of historical development. In the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels from 1848, Section I ( bourgeois and proletarian ) states :

“ The middle class, the little industrialist, the little merchant, the artisan, the farmer, they all fight the bourgeoisie in order to secure their existence as middle classes from ruin. So you are not revolutionary, but conservative. Even more, they are reactionary, they are trying to turn back the wheel of history. "

With the statement that the wheel of history cannot be turned back, one expresses today that historical developments cannot be reversed.

Wheels must roll for victory!

Wheels must roll for victory! was the title of a propaganda advertising campaign by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1942. The main objective of the campaign was to increase transport performance at the turn of the Second World War . The reason for the campaign were increasing supply problems in the Russian campaign , for which the railways were largely blamed.

As part of the campaign, a series of advertisements appeared asking people to avoid unnecessary travel. One motif showed a train compartment in which a soldier in marching gear is standing in front of a seated traveler. It was written about it in large letters:

“ Does your trip help you win? "

Associated with this was the subline:

“ Do you have to steal the front of the car? "

Raffael would have become a great painter even if he had been born without his hands.

Raffaello Santi

This remark comes from Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's drama Emilia Galotti , where the painter Conti says to the Prince of Guastalla:

“ Or do you think, Prince, that Raphael would not have been the greatest artistic genius if, unfortunately, he had been born without hands? "

Conti thus puts the conception above the manual execution. He previously described his own painting as follows:

“ On the long way, from the eye through the arm into the brush, how much is lost there! "

In the Decamerone of the Misunderstood , a parodistic representation of the so-called Theaterdekamerones, published in 1881, the following dialogue takes place:

“ There may also be some of us who are weighed down with the ordography a little while screaming,” the soufleur began again, “and that's why it looks lazy with a decameron!”
“Poor worm!” Fellrich snapped at him. “Nevertheless, Raphael would have become the greatest painter, even if he had been born without arms and legs. The spirit alone gives life - not orthography. We assume a copist who looks through the individual contributions a little. " "

The Italian painter Raffael became famous for his harmonious and balanced compositions and lovely pictures of the Madonna. During his lifetime he enjoyed the privilege of being known only by his first name, and well into the 19th century he was considered the greatest painter of all time.

Rahn shoots. Goal, goal, goal, goal!

This sentence by radio reporter Herbert Zimmermann in the final of the 1954 World Cup went down in history. Zimmermann describes the decisive goal of the German national soccer team against the Hungarian team when the score was 2-2 shortly before the end:

“ Six minutes left in the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern, nobody wobbles, the rain pelts down incessantly, it's difficult, but the spectators, they don't hold out. How could they - a soccer World Cup takes place every four years and when do you see such a final, so balanced, so gripping. Now Germany on the left wing through Schäfer. Schäfer's pass to Morlock is blocked by the Hungarians - and Bozsik, again and again Bozsik, the Hungarians right runner on the ball. He lost the ball - this time, against Schäfer. Shepherd flanked inside. Header - blocked. Rahn should shoot from the background - Rahn shoots - Gooooor! Tooooor! Tooooor! Tooooor! "

Then Zimmermann exclaimed enthusiastically:

“ Goal for Germany! Germany leads three to two. Think I'm crazy, think I'm crazy! "

In honor of Zimmermann, the Herbert Award bears his name for outstanding journalistic achievements in sports journalism.

Mad reporter

Egon Erwin Kisch

The journalist and writer Egon Erwin Kisch published a collection of reports in 1925 under the title “ The raging reporter ”. This title soon became the name for Kisch himself.

Raging Roland

The raging Roland (Italian: "Orlando furioso") is an epic by the Italian Renaissance poet Ludovico Ariosto . The main character Roland - model is the Franconian Margrave Hruotland - is passed off as Charlemagne's nephew. When Angelica, a Chinese princess, who is as beautiful as she is magical, comes to the court of Emperor Charles, most knights fall in love with her on the spot. Roland even goes mad because of his love.

“Rasender Roland” is used today - without reference to Ariost's work - to describe an angry person. The name was used ironically to designate the slow narrow-gauge railway Der rasende Roland on the island of Rügen .

Rat catcher from Hameln

The Pied Piper of Hameln is one of the most famous German legends . The legend tells of a flute player who released the city of Hamelin from a plague of rats and was then cheated out of his wages. He took revenge for this by luring the children out of town with his flute playing. The historical core of the Pied Piper legend cannot be determined. What is certain, however, is that the original children's excerpt saga was not linked to a rat expulsion saga until the end of the 16th century.

The word pied piper is often used today to denote politicians who speculate on the seduction of voters.

The earth has space for everyone.

These words come from Friedrich Schiller's poem Der Alpenjäger, later set to music by Franz Schubert , and are part of the instruction that the mountain spirit gives a hunter who has driven a gazelle up to the highest mountain ridge in order to kill it there. The poem ends with the following lines:

“ Do you have to send death and misery?
Does he call up to me?
The earth has space for everyone,
What are you following my flock? "

There is room in the smallest hut.

The fourth stanza of Friedrich Schiller's poem Der Jüngling am Bache was later incorporated into the comedy Der Parasit and ends with the following stanza:

" Come down, you beautiful lady,
and leave your proud castle! I pour
flowers born of
spring into your lap.
Listen, the grove resounds with songs,
and the spring trickles clearly. There
is room in the smallest hut
For a happily loving couple. "

It is used to comment on cramped spatial conditions, e.g. B. if suddenly a visitor appears. Examples:

“ Minivans in comparison - there's room in the smallest hut. "
“ There is space in the smallest hut - small rooms can be optimally used with special furniture. "
“ There is room in the smallest hut. "(German title of the US TV series Room for One More )

Read my lips.

George HW Bush giving a speech

The US presidential candidate George HW Bush made the following promise at the 1988 Republican National Convention :

" Read my lips: no new taxes. "

“ Read it from my lips: No new taxes. "

The promise was an important statement in the election campaign, the speech brought it to the consciousness of the American people and is considered one of the decisive reasons for the election victory.

After his election, a flattening economy and a Democratic majority in Congress forced Bush to compromise. In 1990 he raised various taxes and broke his election promise. " Read my lips. “Has become a synonym for broken election promises.

The SPÖ also used the Bush quote in election spots in the 2006 National Council election against the then Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel , who promised not to enter into a coalition with the SP should it maintain its EU course:

“ 'You lied, Mr. Chancellor.' That is the central message of the SPÖ election campaign in the electronic media. "

In each of the seven SPÖ commercials there were statements by the Federal Chancellor from the past, which were then referred to as lies from the off.

Rebellion is justified.

With these words, Mao Zedong urged the Red Guards to resist the Chinese Communist Party establishment :

造反有理.

Zaofan you li.

In 1964, 49 students from Qinghua Middle School founded the first Red Guard and wanted to present the school administration with new ideas and suggestions for the school's reformation. The group wrote a letter to Mao personally explaining their ideas. Mao replied that the Red Guards rebellion in the school was right and revolutionary and that he supported them.

Right to work

This political demand comes from the work Theory of the Four Movements ( Théorie des quatres Mouvements ) published in 1808 . by the French social philosopher Charles Fourier , in which he outlines a comprehensive system of utopian socialism.

Fourier saw the provision of the individual in society with the essentials of life as a right and reinterpreted the condemnation of man to work since the fall of man into a human right . Until then, the price of knowledge was seen as the effort of work.

Right must remain right.

This statement comes from the Old Testament. The 94th Psalm says that God's people are oppressed by the wicked, but that God will help them:

“ For the Lord will not cast out his people or forsake his inheritance. Because right must remain right, and all pious hearts will fall to it. "

Right must remain right -! is also a poem by Kurt Tucholsky , which deals with war bonds and ends with the following verses:

“ But the little man who has signed
his war loan in the country and in the city
can write his money down the chimney.
Right must remain right. "

The Focus editor Frank Mertgen wrote in an editorial in 2005 under the heading Right must remain right :

“ Law should organize coexistence and resolve conflicts. It can only do that if the rules are widely accepted. When what hardly seems legitimate is legal, the legal order is damaged. "

Talking is silver.

This proverbial phrase is based on Psalm 12.7. There it says:

“ The Lord's speech is louder, like silver cleared through. "

In the Book of Proverbs (10:20) it says:

“ The tongue of the righteous is precious silver. "

The quote collector Georg Büchmann asks in his winged words :

“ But in what way added:“ Silence is gold ”? The preacher Solomon 3: 7 only says: “There is a time to be silent, to speak”. Some cite the Koran as the source for “speaking is silver and silence is gold”, but cleverly never refer to the sura in which Mohammed revealed it. "

Reform of the head and members

A head and limb reformation is a fundamental transformation of an organization. The requirement was originally made in a text in preparation for the Council of Vienne in 1311. There it says:

“ ... that above all that which is to be improved and reformed in the Church of God, may be improved and reformed, both in head and in members. "

Reform of the head and members of the Church is usually identified as the main purpose of the great councils of the fifteenth century.

Pope Clement V called a council in Vienne for 1311 . Of all the reports submitted to the Council of Vienne , only the “ Tractatus de modo generalis concilii celebrandi ” has survived . There it says:

“ Videretur deliberandum, perquam utile fore et necessariurn quod ante omnia corrigerentur et reformarentur illa quae sunt in ecclesia Dei corrigenda et reformanda, tarn in capite quarr in membris. "

“ It seems to have to be considered that it would be very useful and necessary to improve and reform in head and members above all that which is in need of improvement and reform in the Church of God. "

The council decided that the Templars had not been proven the heresy and blasphemy accused of them in the 1307 Templar trial . Nevertheless, this order should be dissolved in order to avert further damage to the church.

Rules for the human park

Rules for the human park is a speech that the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk gave in July 1999 at Elmau Castle and which was published as a book in the same year. The lecture sparked an intense public debate about the application of genetic engineering to humans:

“ What presents itself as thinking about politics is in truth a fundamental reflection on rules for the operation of human parks. If there is a human dignity that deserves to be brought up in philosophical reflection, it is mainly because people are not only held in the political theme parks, but hold themselves in them. Humans are self-nurturing, self-guarding beings who - wherever they live - create a parking space around them. In city parks, national parks, cantonal parks, ecoparks - people everywhere have to form an opinion about how to regulate their self-retention. "

Give me your hand, my life.

With the Italian song Là ci darem la mano , Don Giovanni tries to lure a bride into his castle in Mozart's opera The Punished Wüstling or Don Giovanni :

“ Give me your hand, my life,
come to my castle with me;
Can you still resist?
It's not far from here. "

Give me your hand, my life is the title of a film by Karl Hartl that premiered in 1955 . In this film, singer Anni Gottlieb remembers Mozart's deathbed from their time together as his student and last lover.

Ready for the island

This is the title of a hit song written in 1982 by Austrian singer-songwriter Peter Cornelius . Since then, this expression has made it clear that one is ready for a vacation . In the hit it says:

“ I am ripe, ripe, ripe, ripe for the island.
I'm ripe, ripe, ripe overripe.
And I ask me why I'm not there,
I'm apparently too cowardly to get out.
And i wonder why i'm not there,
i'm apparently too cowardly to get out. "

The German railway advertises these words for their holiday deals on the North Sea:

“ Ready for the island? The train takes you there. "

The Tagesspiegel turns these words around when it writes about the German soccer goalkeeper Nick Hamann, who played in the British Isles for four years. It then says, alluding to a certain maturation process:

" Ripe from the island "

Rhyme or I'll eat you!

Title page of Sacer's Satire

The satirist and poet Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer published a satire on the weaknesses of contemporary poetry under the pseudonym Hartmann Reinhold in 1673, to which he entitled Reime dich, oder ich eat dich! gave.

Sacer was an outspoken opponent of poetological innovations that had begun with Philipp von Zesen .

“Rhyme up, or I'll eat you!” Is a colloquial saying today, jokingly when verses rhyme poorly.

'into the good room!

When Kaiser Wilhelm I visited the city of Leipzig in September 1876 , a woman from Leipzig invited Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, who had been assigned to her home as a guest, to her apartment with the following words:

“ Your Royal Highness, come into the parlor! "

A funeral motto by Peter Rühmkorf also begins like this:

Don't look so disgusted into the pit.
Just always go into the living room.
Couple of shovels of earth and we have
dug up a valley of tears behind us.

Do not keep travellers from travelling.

The first literary evidence of this idiom is found in 1907 by Johannes Richard zur Megede in the novel Modeste . According to Johannes Ilberg, the colloquial formulation is likely to have been in common use as early as the 19th century. Prominent the word structure by the German Chancellor was Helmut Schmidt in the Bundestag debate of 17 September 1982 in the State of the Nation , as the SPD -Koalitionspartner FDP prepared a coalition change: " That would not be so bad , travelers should not stop you. ". Since then, the phrase has been used repeatedly by politicians when it comes to renegades, for example by Jörg Tauss in August 2004 and Klaus Wowereit in October 2011.

Rider across Lake Constance

Fountain in Überlingen rider over Lake Constance

Sea frost

A Swabian legend, which Gustav Schwab adapted according to oral tradition in 1826 in his ballad Der Reiter und der Bodensee , tells that a rider gallops unsuspectingly across the snowy surface of the frozen Lake Constance :

“ The rider rides through the bright valley,
the sun shimmers on the snow field.

He trots in sweat through the cold snow,
he wants to go to Lake Constance today;

Today with the horse in the secure boat,
wants to land over there before night. "

He is amazed at the uniform landscape:

“ Out of the mountains, into the flat country,
there he sees the snow stretching like sand.

Far behind him, the village and town are disappearing,
the path becomes level, the railway becomes smooth. "

When he reached the other side unnoticed, he asked

“ Welcome to the window, Mägdelein,
to the lake, to the lake, how far can it be?

The maiden, she is amazed at the rider:
the lake is behind you and the boat. "

When the rider hears this and realizes the danger he has escaped, he falls dead from the horse in shock.

Seegfrörni is the term used in Switzerland for the freezing of a lake. It is known that in 1573 the Alsatian post bailiff Andreas Egglisperger crossed the frozen Lake Constance to Überlingen on his horse. This event inspired Schwab to write his ballad. The fountain Der Reiter over Lake Constance in Überlingenalso reminds of this.

The horror of an unconscious disaster is remembered of the rider across Lake Constance.

... rides for Germany.

Equestrian statue of Friedrich III. in Bremen

This is the title of a rider biography by Clemens Laar from 1936 and a film by Arthur Maria Rabenalt from 1941, which tells the story of a German Rittmeister who was paralyzed in the First World War , but conquered his illness and finally won as a show jumper emerged from a tournament.

This nationalist drama celebrates the revitalized Germany after the First World War and tells the story of Rittmeister von Brenken, who was badly wounded as an officer in World War I and has been paralyzed since then. His manor is also heavily in debt, but only one thought drives him: He wants to ride again and win tournaments at all costs.

The model for the film was the rider Carl-Friedrich von Langen , who was seriously wounded in the First World War and was even dependent on a wheelchair for a short time. In 1928 he won two gold medals at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam , the first in which Germany was allowed to participate again .

The title is also used ironically alienated. This is the name of a record that reproduces the linguistic mistakes of the former German President Heinrich Lübke " ... speaks for Germany ".

“ Kaiser Friedrich rides for Germany - The unveiling of the equestrian statue of Friedrich III. in Bremen and Wilhelm II's visit to the Hanseatic city in 1905 “was the title of a scientific colloquium in July 2005 to commemorate the glamorous staging of the German imperial power in Bremen on the occasion of the unveiling of the statue of the German Emperor Friedrich III.

Religion is opium to the people.

The statement “religion” is “the opium of the people” comes from the treatise On the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law by Karl Marx , published in 1844 , in which Marx comes to the following conclusion:

" Man makes religion , religion does not make man."

He further states:

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the mind of a heartless world as it is the mind of spiritless states. It is the opium of the people. "

This statement was subsequently shortened to the form "Religion is opium for the people".

Republics end in luxury, monarchies in poverty.

This view can be found in the work On the Spirit of Laws by the French legal philosopher Charles de Montesquieu and reads as follows in the French original:

“ Les républiques finissent par le luxe; les monarchies, par la pauvreté. "

As luxury increases, citizens turn to self-interest. Montesquieu believes that the less luxury there is, the more perfect the republic is .

Requiescat in pace.

This Latin formula means “ He / She rest in peace! "There is also the request:

“ Rest in peace! "

These words can be found on obituaries or on tombstones, also known as RIP. It goes back to Psalm 4: 9, which says without reference to death:

“ I lie and sleep in peace. "

The passage is an expression of the psalmist's great trust in God.

Return carriage

A return coach reacts to those who respond to a reproach of another with a reproach to the other, who parries an insult with an insult and the like.

Revolution from above

The expressions revolution from above - revolution from below go back to the writer Friedrich Schlegel , who used them in his treatise signature of the age .

He attributes the revolution from above to the “supporters of the new despotism that emerged from the revolution”, by which Napoleon I's government is meant. He then continues:

“So it has finally come to the point that after first the revolution from below and then the revolution from above had raged throughout their entire period of time, a new political disaster is now emerging as the first peculiar characteristic of the latest epoch that is just beginning. I would like to call it the revolution from the middle. "

Revolutionaries in dressing gowns and slippers

In his letters from Paris , the German writer Ludwig Börne wrote about a supporter of the Spanish pretender to the throne and temporary anti-king, Don Carlos, that he was one of those "who wait for Henry V to return in slippers and dressing gowns".

The Prussian minister Otto Theodor Freiherr von Manteuffel (1805-1882) picked up on these words when he warned of a civil servant revolution in the first chamber. In his opinion, such a revolution is very dangerous "precisely because you can participate in your dressing gown and slippers, while the barricade fighters must at least have the courage to expose themselves."

Do not judge that you will not be judged.

This instruction belongs in the context of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount . Jesus wants to keep people from self-righteous judgment of their fellow men. His goal is to practice self-knowledge. In the Greek original the sentence is:

" Μὴ κρίνετε, ἵνα μὴ κριθῆτε · "

Mē krinete hina mē krithēte.

Jesus continues:

“ For by whatever law you judge, you will be judged; and with what measure you measure will be measured to you. "

Rififi in ...

1955 Japanese movie poster

The French word Rififi was coined by Auguste Le Breton in his 1953 slang detective novel Du Rififi chez les hommes , after which the film of the same name (German: Rififi ; French premiere: April 13, 1955) was made. Made on a budget of $ 200,000, the film about gangsters in the Parisian underworld won an award for best director at the 1955 Cannes Festival. At the beginning of the film, singer Viviane is shown singing a jazz song called Rififi in a jazz club . A scene of breaking into a jewelry store in Paris' Rue de Rivoli is shown without a word for 32 minutes. The film is rated by critics as the best French gangster film. After the film counterpart Du Rififi chez les femmes was published in 1957, Le Breton wrote 11 novels by 1969 with "Rififi" in the title.

During this time the word was adopted into the German language. According to the Duden dictionary, the Rififi is a “cleverly thought out crime carried out in secret”. In German, however, the term is also used for riot or brawl. For the German Institute of Film Studies it is a word from the Parisian criminal language and means "bloody brawl". The comic title Rififi in Palumbia from the Marsupilami series (Volume 10, September 2003) also refers to it.

Right or wrong - my country!

Stephen Decatur junior

"Right or wrong - my country!" Is an English slogan that expresses unconditional patriotism. The US officer Stephen Decatur junior is considered to be the author, who uttered this as a toast after the victory in the American-Tripolitan War in 1805:

" In matters of foreign affairs, my country may she ever be right, but right or wrong, my country, my country! "

“ In external affairs, may my country always be fair, but right or wrong, my country, my fatherland! "

The German-American General and Minister of the Interior Carl Schurz used the idea in a more explicitly reflected form when he said before the Senate on February 29, 1872:

" The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming," My country, right or wrong. "In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right. "

" The Senator from Wisconsin can't scare me with his phrase, 'my country, right or wrong."' In a sense, I use it too. My country and my country is the great American Republic . My country, right or wrong, if right, right to do; and if wrong, to be right. "

Years later, he continued this idea at an anti-imperialist conference:

" I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves ... too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism:" Our country, right or wrong! " They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: "Our country - when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right. "

“ I trust that the American people will prove too wise to not expose the false pride, dangerous aspirations, and selfish machinations that are emerging under this false cry of false patriotism, “ Our country, right or wrong “Hides. It is not overlooked that our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and well-being of this and future generations of Americans will only be secure if we insist on the slogan of true patriotism: "Our country, right or wrong, if right to keep right; and if wrong, to right. "

Rin in the potatoes, out of the potatoes!

These words are said when consecutive instructions are inconsistent. They have been attested since 1881 from a military joke in the satirical weekly Fliegende Blätter and have their origin in disordered military orders. It could happen that soldiers were supposed to hide in a potato field as camouflage, but had to clear the field again immediately to avoid damage to the fields.

It is an unwilling comment today about constant change or contradicting decisions.

Ride across Lake Constance

See above under tab about Lake Constance .

Knights without fear or blame

Pierre du Terrails statue in Grenoble

This was the nickname of the knight Pierre du Terrail , Chevalier de Bayard. French is his nickname:

" Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche "

The daily newspaper Die Welt writes about Bayard:

“ He died leaning against a tree trunk, his face turned to the enemy. His last words were about loyalty and fatherland. With the Chevalier de Bayard, whom everyone called the 'knight without fear and blame', a whole warlike era came to an end in 1524. "

In 1503 he allegedly defended the bridge over the Garigliano River against 200 enemy horsemen all by himself. This feat made him very popular in France. An old song says:

“ See how he stands up
boldly courageous at the bridge ,
That he with his spears
Forbid the whole army of
the enemy. He
stands alone, the hero! "

Knight of the sad figure

Don Quixote's fight with the windmills

This is the nickname of Don Quixote , the main character in Miguel de Cervantes ' novel The Ingenious Junker Don Quixote of the Mancha ( El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha ). It is the translation of El caballero de la triste figura . Don Quixote reads one chivalric novel after the other until he finally believes that he must set out himself as a knight errant to fight injustice. He gives his Klepper the name Rocinante (span. Fue rocín antes [= before it was a Klepper ]) and makes a peasant girl the mistress of his heart, whom he no less melodiously calls Dulcinea of Toboso (span. Dulce [= sweet]). The nickname is an idea of the squire Sancho Panza : In the 19th chapter of the first book, Quixote encounters a funeral procession and believes there is a wounded or slain knight lying on the stretcher, whom he must avenge. When he receives rude answers, he becomes furious and attacks the funeral procession. Sancho Panza then introduces his master as follows: “If perhaps those gentlemen want to know who the hero was who dressed them up in this way, you can tell them: It was the famous Don Quixote of the Mancha, who also goes by another name Knight of the sad figure is called. "

The phrase "fight with windmills" (acometer molinos de viento) for a nonsensical fight goes back to this novel . Don Quixote's fight against the windmill (s) is the most famous episode of the novel. It only plays a subordinate role in the original, but is central to most modern adaptations of this material. The reason for this is as follows: The 19th century was fascinated by this hopeless struggle of the gracious gentleman against the merciless machine, because the rapid technical progress at that time drove the loss of power of the aristocracy. The Junkers' ridiculous revolt against windmills was the ideal symbol for this.

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.

This English sentence ( "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose." ) Comes from the American writer Gertrude Stein , who lived in Paris and was the center of a circle of painters and writers there. Her prose style of associative sequence and apparently senseless repetition of the same should be an expression of the flowing time.

The sentence comes from the poem Sacred Emily in the volume Geography and Plays from 1913, where Stein plays with the consonance of a rose and Eros :

" Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose
Loveliness extreme.
Extra gaiters,
loveliness extreme.
Sweetest ice-cream.
Pages ages page ages page ages. "

One uses the quotation, in which the noun can also be replaced by another, to say of something that it is identical to itself.

Roses for the prosecutor

Roses for the Public Prosecutor is a feature film by the German director Wolfgang Staudte from 1959, which deals with the situation in the German judiciary of the Adenauer eraas a biting satire.

Judge-Martial Dr. Wilhelm Schramm raves about the " old days " and stealthily gets the German soldiers' newspaper from the newspaper stand . When a bouquet of white roses is delivered to him, his wife suspects an extramarital relationship, but Schramm reassures her: The roses come from the wife of the teacher Zirngiebel, who is accused of anti-Semitic statements, and are the agreed sign of his successful escape.

The title became the epitome of bribery of law enforcement officials.

I never saw horse and rider again.

With this verse ends a monologue of Wallenstein in Friedrich Schiller's tragedy Wallenstein's death . Before a battle, on the advice of Octavio Piccolomini, Wallenstein had exchanged his piebald for another horse, which had saved his life:

“ This beast's swiftness snatched from
Mich Bannier's pursuing Dragoons.
My cousin rode the piebald that day,
And I never saw horse and rider again. "

Red thread

Red thread in Hanover

The expression red thread in the sense of "leading, connecting basic idea" goes back to Goethe's novel Die Wahlverwandschaften , where the main idea in Ottilie's diary is compared with the continuous red thread in the cordage of the English Navy :

" All the ropes of the royal fleet ... are spun in such a way that a red thread runs through the whole thing, which one cannot wind out without dissolving everything ... Likewise, a thread of affection and attachment runs through Ottilien's diary, which connects everything and describes the whole ... Some of your own with a more intimate relationship will be recognizable by the red thread. "

In Greek mythology there was the thread of Ariadne , a gift from Princess Ariadne , daughter of Minos , to Theseus . With the help of the thread Theseus found his way through the labyrinth in which the Minotaur was.

An identification thread is a product or material identification by means of a special thread usually inserted into the product. The thread is usually made recognizable by its color.

The Red Thread in Hanover is a tour of the 36 most important sights in the city center.

Rotte Korah

The expression Rotte Korah goes back to the Book of Numbers , which describes how a man named Korah and two hundred and fifty people rebelled against Moses and how they were killed by God by fire for this.

Red wine is one of the best gifts for old boys.

“ Red wine is one of the best gifts for old boys. "

In Wilhelm Busch's trilogy Tobias Knopp , Rector Debisch treats him to a bottle of red wine, which his son has secretly filled with water from the gutter. The anticipation of Messrs. Debisch and Knopp is expressed in this two-liner.

“ Red wine is
one of the best gifts for old boys . "

Today, the quote is mostly used as a joke as a comment when serving a red wine and is, for example, the headline of an article in a study published in the journal Nature about the red wine ingredient resveratrol as anti-aging:

“ The researchers found that fat old mice that were fed a high-fat diet and also received the red wine ingredient resveratrol were healthier and lived longer than their equally fat rodent colleagues who had to get along without resveratrol. "

Callers in the desert

Domenico Veneziano: John the Baptist

According to the Christian interpretation, the “ caller in the desert ” means the biblical John the Baptist . The designation is completely “ voice of the caller in the desert ” (Greek: φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ , phōnē boōntos en tē erēmō; Latin: “ vox clamans in deserto ”) and is based on Isa 40,3 EU and Mk 1,3 EU back. The place name “in the desert” could indicate that John lived not far from Qumran , where a strictly ascetic community was looking forward to the coming dispensation. The term is used today in the sense of “ ignored ”, “in vain ”. The quote collector Georg Büchmann writes in his Winged Words :

" Whoever admonishes in vain, we call him a preacher in the desert according to Isaiah 40: 3:" It is a voice of a preacher in the desert "(cf. Isa. 53: 1:" ... who believes our sermon? "); after the Vulgate: vox clamantis in deserto, what, indicates John the Baptist, Matth. 3.3, mark. 1,3, Luk. 3: 4 and John 1:23 is repeated. "

“ A caller in the desert ” is the title of the novel by Jakob Bosshart (1921).

Rest is the first civic duty.

Poster origin of the quote

In the battle of Jena and Auerstedt, the French troops under Napoléon Bonaparte defeated the Prussian-Saxon army on October 14, 1806. It was foreseeable that Napoleon would now conquer Berlin . That is why the Prussian minister Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von der Schulenburg-Kehnert made a request to the residents:

“The king has lost a bataille [ sic ]. Now rest is the first civic duty. I urge the residents of Berlin to do so. The king and his brothers live! Berlin, October 17th, 1806. Count v. d. Schulenburg. "

This catchphrase became the society's motto after the Congress of Vienna and especially after the Karlsbad resolutions of 1819, which suppressed political activities. The repressive era until 1848 was later called Biedermeier . This name comes from a collection of parodic poems published in 1855 by a fictional schoolmaster Gottlieb Biedermaier , invented by the lawyer and writer Ludwig Eichrodt and the doctor Adolf Kussmaul . The eponymous Biedermaier contented himself with his contemplative, quiet life without any political commitment.

Rest is the first civic duty or Fifty Years Ago is a patriotic novel by the writer Willibald Alexis from 1852.

Derived from this, the opposite statement is now used: restlessness is the first civic duty , for example as the title of a book by Konrad Jule Hammer from 1968.

See also

Keep calm and carry on

Resting pole

The following verse comes from Friedrich Schiller's poem The Walk , to which the linguistic addition "the resting pole" probably goes back:

“ Pondering the wise, searching the creative spirit,
examining the material violence, the magnets hate and love
, follow the sound through the air, follow the ray through the ether,
search for the familiar law in the horrific wonders of chance,
search for the calm pole escape in the apparitions. "

This quote was often used by the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt and later also became a favorite quote of the physicist Hermann von Helmholtz . Humboldt's quote is at the end of the monograph Experiments on irritated muscle and nerve fibers :

“ Great and brilliant discoveries cannot escape the human mind if it boldly advances on the path of experiment and observation, and ceaselessly seeks the refuge in the phenomena for the calm pole. "

Today, a resting pole is understood to mean a person who radiates calm when there is restlessness.

Quiet, brown!

In Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre , Helmwige says about her horse:

"Quiet, brown! Don't break the peace "

The phrase is used in everyday speech to comment on impatient or aroused people.

Do not touch me!

Fra Angelico : Jesus and Mary Magdalene on Easter morning

Jesus Christ says these words to the seeking Mary Magdalene after his resurrection on Easter morning in the Gospel of John ( Joh 20,15-17 EU ):

“ 15 Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for? She, thinking it was the gardener, said to him, Lord, if you carried him away, tell me where you put him and I will take him away. 16 Jesus said to her, Mary! She turns around and says to him in Hebrew: Rabbuni! that is, teacher. 17 Jesus said to her, Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to [my] father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I rise up to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. "

In the Greek original it says:

" Μή μου ἅπτου. "

Mē mou haptou.

The Latin version ( VUL ) of this passage from the Bible Noli me tangere is also used and also describes artistic representations of the scene.

In the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , the Romanist Hans-Martin Gauger writes about this passage from the Bible:

“ After that there was probably a movement of Magdalena rushing towards Jesus. Because now comes the strange 'don't touch me!' Or, this is how it can be translated (and this is how the “uniform translation” cited here translates it): 'Don't hold on to me!' The reason Jesus gives is puzzling: 'For I have not yet gone up to the Father.' "

The name “Don't touch me” is derived from this biblical passage for the great balsam , whose striking feature is that the fruit capsules are under so much pressure that they burst open when touched and the seeds they contain are thrown out.

Rule, Britannia, rule the waves!

Britannia figure in Saint Helier , Jersey

This is the refrain of the patriotic English song Rule, Britannia! from the drama Alfred: a Masque ( Alfred: a mask play ) by the Scottish poet James Thomson . It is considered the unofficial national anthem of Great Britain and is part of the repertoire of the London Promenade Concerts. The song has the following downside:

" Britannia, rule the waves,
Britons never will be slaves! "

“ Rule Britannia, rule over the waves, British will never be slaves! "

Rule, Britannia! is - like the patriotic pieces Land of Hope and Glory and Jerusalem - traditionally performed by the BBC during the Last Night of the Proms (closing event of the promenade concerts) and is usually sung by a guest star.

Ludwig van Beethoven's orchestral work Wellington's Victory or the Battle of Vitoria begins - after a drum roll - with Rule Britannia . Even Richard Wagner worked the theme of Rule Britannia for orchestra. Margaret Rutherford gave a somewhat idiosyncratic interpretation of the song as Miss Marple in the film Murderer ahoy! ( Murder Ahoy , 1964). In addition, the kehrvers from Rule Britannia is always intoned by the fans at different times during football matches of the English national team .

Individual evidence

↑ "M. T *** “: Français au Rhin !!! Brussels, 1869 p. 13.

^ Gotthold Ephraim Lessing : Emilia Galotti . I, 4.

↑ Quoted from ub.fu-berlin.de ( Memento from June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive )

↑ wienerzeitung.at ( Memento from November 8, 2007 in the web archive archive.today )

↑ Kurt Tucholsky : Law must remain right -! Quoted from http://www.textlog.de/tucholsky-recht-bleiben.html

↑ focus.de

↑ Georg Büchmann : Winged words , 19th edition. (1898). Quoted from http://susning.nu/buchmann/0067.html

↑ Quoted from https://books.google.de/books?id=1k_SaDorkW8C&pg=PA399&dq=eine+Grundlagenreflexion+%C3%BCber+Regeln+f%C3%BCr+den+Betrieb+von+Menschenparks&hl=de&sa=X&OvedYs7q9AhXH6 # v = onepage & q = a% 20 basic reflection% 20% C3% BCber% 20rules% 20f% C3% BCr% 20den% 20Betrieb% 20von% 20People parks & f = false

↑ Quoted from - ( Memento from June 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

↑ Quoted from Immer rein in die Gute Stube In: Der Freitag , No. 24/2008. Retrieved December 4, 2015.

^ Zur Megede, Modeste, Deutsche-Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, January 1, 1910. (Newly published: 2009, ISBN 978-1-104-29752-7 ).

↑ Ilberg, From a discharge speech, In: New year books for classical antiquity. History and German literature and for pedagogy, Volume 14, Edition 28, Verlag BG Teubner, Leipzig, 1911.

^ Coalition: He wants out there, in: DER SPIEGEL, Spiegel-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg, edition: 37/1982.

^ SPD is angry with Lafontaine, in: DER SPIEGEL, Spiegel-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg, edition: 34/2004.

↑ Money or Gorki-Why Intendant Armin Petras wants to leave, in: Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin, October 12, 2011.

↑ Quoted from http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~conrad/lyrics/bodensee.html

^ Charles de Montesquieu: De l'esprit des lois . VII, 4.

↑ Gospel according to Matthew , Chapter 7.

↑ Gospel according to Matthew , 7.1.

^ Andrew Spicer, Historical Dictionary of Film Noir , 2010, p. 260.

↑ George Anastasia / Glen Macnow, The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies , 2011, p. 124.

↑ Auguste Le Breton, La Loi des Rues , 1999, p. 215.

↑ Der Duden Online, 2013, about Rififi

↑ Gerd Albrecht / Hans Schifferle, The great film successes , 1985, p. 82.

↑ andrea-fischer.de ( Memento from November 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

↑ ^a ^b Jan von Flocken : Bayard - he was France's last knight In: Welt Online , November 17, 2007.

↑ ^a ^b Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: The ingenious Junker Don Quixote of the Mancha . Artemis and Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich 8th edition 1997, ISBN 3-538-06531-4 (translation by Ludwig Braunfels ), p. 162: Knight of the sad figure, p. 67 ff: fighting against windmills.