Quotes from Nicolás Gómez Dávila

The three hypostasis of egoism are: individualism, nationalism, collectivism. The democratic trinity.

In spiritually arid centuries, the only man to realize that the century is dying from thirst is the man who still harnesses an underground spring.

Leer a Nietzsche como respuesta es no entenderlo. Nietzsche es una interrogación inmensa.

Adapting to the modern world demands the hardening of one's sensibility and the debasing of one's character.

The political presence of the masses always culminates in a hellish apocalypse.

Wir wollen hier auf Erden schon das Himmelreich errichten'. Aber welches denn Heine? Das sozialistische Paradies, von dem sie in der Konsumgesellschaft träumen, oder die Konsumgesellschaft, von der sie im sozialistischen Paradies träumen?

Intelligent optimism is never faith in progress, but hope in a miracle. How can anyone live who does not hope for miracles?

It is impossible to convince the fool that there are pleasures superior to those we share with the rest of the animals.

Whoever does not understand that two perfectly contrary attitudes can both be perfectly justified ought not to engage in criticism.

To be an aristocrat is to not believe that everything depends on the will.

Replacing the concrete sense perception of the object with its abstract intellectual construction makes man gain the world and lose his soul.

Classifying is the first step toward understanding; persisting in classifying is the first step toward confusion.

The anonymity of the modern city is as intolerable as the familiarity of modern customs. Life should resemble a salon of people with good manners, where all know each other but where none hug each other.

Dehellenizing Christianity turns it into a sect.

The Left does not always kill, but it always lies.

Zichzelf veroordelen is niet minder pretentieus dan zichzelf vergeven.

De menselijke warmte in een samenleving wordt minder naar de mate waarin haar wetgeving volmaakter wordt.

To refute the new morality, all one needs to do is examine the faces of its aged devotees.

The newspaper collects the previous day's garbage in order to feed it to us for breakfast.

There are words for deceiving others, like "rational." And others, like "dialectic," for deceiving oneself.

Wij moeten leren om partijdig te zijn zonder onrechtvaardig te zijn.

Gebildet ist der Mensch, der die höchsten Ergebnisse des Geistes in physiologische Reflexe umformt.

It is easy to believe that we partake of certain virtues when we share in the defects they imply.

A constant flow of news invades existence today, destroying the silence and peace of humble lives, without abolishing their tedium.