"I distrust every idea that doesn't seem obsolete and grotesque to my contemporaries."

Nicolás Gómez Dávila Philosophy See all quotes by Nicolás Gómez Dávila →

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“An individual declares himself a member of some group or other with the goal of demanding in its name what he is ashamed to claim in his own name.”

“No public cause deserves the unlimited allegiance of an intelligent man.”

“The enemies of myth are not the friends of reality but of triviality.”

“Genuine allegiance to an idea surpasses every psychological or social motivation.”

“The individual shrinks in proportion as the state grows.”

“To be intelligent without ideas is the privilege of the artist.”

Resonant Thoughts

"I have pledged myself and my colleagues in the cabinet to a continuous encouragement of initiative, responsibility and energy in serving the public interest. Let every public servant know, whether his…"

— John F. Kennedy

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"At eighty, a man has experienced everything: love, and its ending; ambition, and its emptiness; several foolish beliefs, and their rectification. Fear of death is not very great; affections and intere…"

— André Maurois

opinion journalism1885–1967

#life

"Let the Turks now carry away their abuses, in the only possible manner, namely, by carrying off themselves. Their Zaptiehs and their Mudirs, their Bimbashis and Yuzbashis, their Kaimakams and their Pa…"

— William Ewart Gladstone

Politics1809–1898

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"depends on the cult of action for action's sake. Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Therefore culture i…"

— Umberto Eco

Literature1932–2016

#mind