"One has to be foolish or irredeemably stupid to believe that anything good can come to Europe from the land of presumed opportunity"
About this Quote
The intent is unmistakably political. Streicher was not a neutral "soldier" offering a skeptical foreign-policy take; he was a leading Nazi propagandist and publisher of Der Stuermer, a man who specialized in turning contempt into mass instinct. Read in that context, "Europe" becomes code for an embattled, supposedly pure civilization, while "the land of opportunity" signals not just the United States but modernity's promises: pluralism, social mobility, liberal democracy, cosmopolitan culture. In Nazi rhetoric, those promises were treated as decadent illusions and, often, tethered to antisemitic conspiracy.
The subtext is defensive nationalism masquerading as clarity. By insisting that nothing good can arrive from abroad, Streicher rehearses the psychological posture that authoritarian movements need: seal the borders of the mind first, then the rest follows. It is less a prediction than a permission slip to reject outside influence, dismiss criticism, and recast isolation as intelligence.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Streicher, Julius. (2026, January 17). One has to be foolish or irredeemably stupid to believe that anything good can come to Europe from the land of presumed opportunity. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-has-to-be-foolish-or-irredeemably-stupid-to-80839/
Chicago Style
Streicher, Julius. "One has to be foolish or irredeemably stupid to believe that anything good can come to Europe from the land of presumed opportunity." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-has-to-be-foolish-or-irredeemably-stupid-to-80839/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"One has to be foolish or irredeemably stupid to believe that anything good can come to Europe from the land of presumed opportunity." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-has-to-be-foolish-or-irredeemably-stupid-to-80839/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.




