Cultured American

"Leave him alone. He has already met his judge. I wage war on the living, not the dead."

"Few serve the truth in truth, because only a few have the pure will to be just and even of these, very few have the strength to be just."

"Der Wahrheit dienen wenige in Wahrheit, weil nur wenige den reinen Willen haben gerecht zu sein und selbst von diesen wieder die wenigsten die Kraft, gerecht sein zu können."

“There is only one interesting politician in Europe, the Emperor of Austria.”

"He who can promote his cause well, and is aware of the fact, is usually conciliatory towards his opponent. But to believe one's cause is a good cause and to know one is not skilled in defending it that inspires a wrathful and unconciliatory hatred of the opponent of one's cause. Let everyone judge from this where his worst enemies are to be sought!"

"I can certainly call myself an anti-democrat, but I am not an anti-liberal; indeed I am opposed to pure democracy precisely because I am a liberal. I believe that the ruling class ought not to be monolithic and homogeneous but ought to consist of elements which are diverse in regard to origin and interests; when, instead, political power originates from a single source, even if this be elections with universal suffrage, I regard it as dangerous and liable to become oppressive. Democratic Jacobinism is an illiberal doctrine precisely because it subordinates everything to a single force, that of the so-called majority, on which it does not set any limits."

"Active men are usually lacking in higher activity - I mean individual activity. They are active as officials, businessmen, scholars, that is, as generic beings, but not as quite particular, single and unique men. In this respect they are lazy.

It is the misfortune of active men that their activity is almost always a bit irrational. For example, one must not inquire of the money-gathering banker what the purpose for his restless activity is: it is irrational. Active people roll like a stone, conforming to the stupidity of mechanics.

Today as always, men fall into two groups: slaves and free men. Whoever does not have two-thirds of his day for himself, is a slave, whatever he may be: a statesman, a businessman, an official, or a scholar."

"This man fails in something; finally he exclaims in rage: 'Then let the whole world perish!' This revolting feeling is the summit of envy, which argues: because there is something I cannot have, the whole world shall have nothing! the whole world shall be nothing!"

"Is it virtuous when a cell transforms itself into the function of a stronger cell? It must do so. And is it wicked when the stronger one assimilates the other? It must do so likewise: it is necessary, for it has to have abundant indemnity and seeks to regenerate itself. One has therefore to distinguish the instinct of appropriation and the instinct of submission in benevolence, according as the stronger or the weaker feels benevolent. Gladness and covetousness are united in the stronger person, who wants to transform something to his function: gladness and desire-to-be-coveted in the weaker person, who would like to become a function. - The former case is essentially pity, a pleasant excitation of the instinct of appropriation at the sight of the weak: it is to be remembered, however, that 'strong' and 'weak' are relative conceptions."

"Our crime against criminals is that we treat them like scoundrels."

"What did the Greeks admire in Odysseus? Above all, his capacity for lying, and for cunning and terrible retribution; his being equal to contingencies; when need be, appearing nobler than the noblest; the ability to be whatever he chose; heroic perseverence; having all means at his command; possession of intellect, his intellect is the admiration of the gods, they smile when they think of it: all this is the Greek ideal! The most remarkable thing about it is that the antithesis of appearance and being is not felt at all and is thus of no significance morally. Have there ever been such consummate actors!"

"But let us not forget that it is oratory, not logic; beauty, not sense. Think of the argument in it! Put it into the cold words of everyday! The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause of self-determination — 'that government of the people, by the people, for the people,' should not perish from the earth. It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in that battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves. What was the practical effect of the battle of Gettysburg? What else than the destruction of the old sovereignty of the States, i. e., of the people of the States?"