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- "Der Staat bin ich!"
37 Comments
That is a translation of a quote from Louis XIV of France who supposedly said "L'Etat, c'est moi".
That's the beauty of crowdsourcing, no one knows everything but everyone knows something.
1808
I recognized that and gave that as an answer, just for kicks, even though it asked for English and not French.
Die "Eisendame," except that, along with Ronnie Reagan, she did it for the aristocratic, corporate executive class! "Die Staat sind WIR" and not meaning Wir, die Leute....
- 430
We, in the UK have a lot to thank Margaret Thatcher and her policies for. She helped rid us of being ruled by the unions. Yes, she made mistakes along the way, just like Chancellor Angela Merkel, Presiden E Macron and Prime Minister are doing at this moment.
Maggie Thatcher was quite the opposite of a fascist. She disliked overreaching government as we all should.
I'm not meaning to imply that she was... but she definitely used to come out with statements with a similar tone to this. ("we are a grandmother" comes to mind).
Sure sounded like Start to me.. I thought Staat would have a longer a. Actually also sounded like Stadt (a shorter a), but I knew it couldn't be, given the article...
Der Staat is pronounced correctly. Stadt would be definitely shorter. Cheers. (But you are right about Start, one could mishear it.)
- 216
Except that in German he'd be Ludwig. I was very confused the first time I met this in a discussion including König Karl (of England). When it turned to König Heinrich and all his wives, I finally cottoned on!
Yes, of course you are right: Ludwig XIV. Ja, Du hast natürlich recht, dass es eigentlich Lugwig XIV. sein müsste. ^^
I wonder what's the implication if a German Kaiser said this during the renaissance :D?
- 463
Ich glaube diesen Satz früher mal in der Schule gehört zu haben und zwar in Bezug auf Frankreich. But it's over fifty years ago.
For people who don't know that quote, this sentence is very much out of context and not helpful to learners. Normally one would never say this.
if you hear someone quote louis xiv, or want to quote him yourself, this could be very useful.
When the great Sontaran empire crushes your puny planet it is something I intend to say on a daily basis, in all languages. Sontar-ha!
- 2116
There is a popular joke in Brazil about learning english with the sentence "The book is on the table" (it is supposed to be one of the first ones you'd learn). When I was in my first class ever, the teacher asked where was his book. 3/4 of the class answered with "The book is on the table!" :o))
Just came to my mind, if you happen to become ruler of a (german) state and someone comes bothering you with some petty affair of legality, you would most certainly use this sentence. You never know.. ;o)
