Quotes from Ernst Junger

The I recognizes itself in the other, following the age-old wisdom, "Thou art that." This other may be a lover, or it may be a brother, a fellow sufferer, or a defenseless neighbor. By helping in this manner, the I also benefits itself in the eternal. And with this the basic order of the universe is confirmed.

The downfall of order brings good to none.

Lo que no perdono en mi época no es lo de ser cobarde, sino tener que construir cada día la coartada de la propia cobardía difamando a los héroes

In the close proximity of death, blood and the earth, the spirit takes on harsher features and deeper colours. Existence itself, in all its strata, is more sharply threatened right up to that almost forgotten kind of hunger against which each economic system fails, such that life itself represents the choice between downfall or conquest.

Dos grandes miedos dominan a los hombres cuando el nihilismo culmina. El uno consiste en el espanto ante el vacío interior, y que le obliga a manifestarse hacia afuera a cualquier precio por medio de despliegue de poder, dominio espacial y velocidad acelerada. El otro opera de fuera hacia dentro como ataque del poderoso mundo a la vez demoniaco y automatizado.

Only a miracle can save us from such whirlpools. This miracle has happened, even countless times, when a man stepped out of the lifeless numbers to extend a helping hand to others.

Un espíritu terrible ha borrado aquí todas las cosas superfluas y creado un trasfondo digno del cuadro que acabo de imaginar. Aquí el ser humano vuelve a convertirse necesariamente en un fragmento de la Naturaleza, que lo somete a sus leyes inescrutables y lo utiliza como una criatura hecha de sangre y músculos, de garras y dientes.

Cualquiera que sea el campo de batalla o la posición perdida sobre la que se halle, allí donde se conserva un pasado y se debe combatir por un futuro, no hay acción que esté perdida

Überhaupt setzt die literarische Bildung Maßstäbe, die in der Realität nicht ausgefüllt werden können; das Spielfeld wird zu weit gesteckt.

Largos períodos de paz promueven ciertas ilusiones. Una de ellas es creer que la inviolabilidad del hogar se basa en la Constitución. En realidad, se basa en el padre de familia que se encuentra en su puerta, rodeado de sus hijos, hacha en mano

Such are the cellars over which the proud castles of tyranny rise and above which the aromas of their feast swirl: putrid caves of a gruesome kind in which the depraved rabble regales itself with the violation of human dignity and liberty for all eternity.

We cannot count on seeing our work completed here below, and happy is the man whose will is not too painfully invested in his efforts. No house is built, no plan created, in which ruin is not the cornerstone, and what lives imperishably in us does not reside in our works.

Un ser humano es más que la suma de átomos, miembros, órganos y humores de que consta; una familia es más que el esposo, la esposa y el hijo. Una amistad es más que dos hombres; y un pueblo es más que aquello que puede expresarse por el resultado de un censo de población o por una suma de votos políticos

El poder auténtico se reconoce en la protección que dispensa.

Yet who would have believed that the gods of fat and butter who filled the cows' udders would gain a following in the Marina--of worshippers, at that, who came from houses in which offerings and sacrifices had long been mocked? The same spirits who deemed themselves strong enough to cut the ties that bound them to their ancestral faith became subjugated to the barbarian idols' spell. The sight of their blind obedience was more repugnant than drunkenness at midday.

Esos relámpagos describen un vasto y convulso círculo que corta los frentes y parece reunir a amigos y enemigos en una misma obra de destrucción. El conjunto produce la impresión de un jubiloso triunfo de los elementos, de una ígnea erupción de la Tierra misma; frente a ello, el ser humano, que en pequeñas hordas oscuras cruza a la carrera las sombras, representa un papel minúsculo e insignificante.

El valor es el viento que conduce a costas lejanas, la llave de todos los tesoros, el martillo que forja grandes imperios

Es un espectáculo como sólo en las grandes ocasiones lo ofrece la Naturaleza: en una tempestad, en un huracán o en un incendio — uno puede estar contemplándolo sin notar que pasa el tiempo.

Ariosto's: 'A great heart feels no dread of approaching death, whenever it may come, so long as it be honourable.

Together with a great number of others I had twice paid the piper for inefficient governments. We had carried off neither pay nor glory – just the opposite.

The man with the wound in the belly, a very young lad, lay in amongst us, stretched out like a cat in the warm rays of the setting sun. He slipped into death with an almost childlike smile on his face. It was a sight that didn't oppress me, but left me with a fraternal feeling for the dying man.

I had often doubted; now I was convinced: there were still noble beings among us in whose hearts knowledge of the higher order was preserved and perpetuated. A lofty example enjoins us to follow, and I swore before this head that for all the future I would cast my lot with the solitary and free rather than the triumphant and servile.

Each individual must know if freedom is more important to them—know whether they value how they are more than that they are.14

He was fleeced, robbed; and yet he was the exploiter. The government, unhesitatingly obliging to the majority, pocketed his taxes, and allowed him to be bled.