Quotes About Julien Benda

The modern clercs have created in so-called cultivated society a positive romanticism of harshness. The have also created a romanticism of contempt.

Our age is indeed the age of the intellectual organization of political hatreds. It will be one of its chief claims to notice in the moral history of humanity. —Julien Benda, La trahison des clercs, 1927

If shame is cried upon him, he will point out that today he has to earn his living, and that it is not his fault if he is eager to support the class which takes a pleasure in his productions.

The modern moralists extol the cult of practical activity in defiance of the disinterested life.

The modern clercs have created in so-called cultivated society a positive romanticism of harshness. The have also created a romanticism of contempt.