We have the freedom of thought …

,

“Die Gedankenfreiheit haben wir.
Nun müssen wir uns nur noch die Gedanken beschaffen.”

(Karl Kraus)

Which literally translates from German into English as:

“We have the freedom of thought.
Now, we just need to acquire the thoughts themselves.”

Another translation that partially preserves the original irony would be:

“We have freedom of thought;
what we lack is the thought itself.”

I do not like either one.

So I tried using Shakespearean English; I think this best translates the thoughts of Karl Kraus, considered one of the leading German-language satirists of the 20th century:

“Freedom of thought we do possess,
But, alack, the thought itself doth escape us.”

(Karl Kraus)

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