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

—  Julien Benda

Source: Treason of the Intellectuals (1927), p. 143

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The modern clercs have created in so-called cultivated society a positive romanticism of harshness. The have also creat…" by Julien Benda?
Julien Benda photo
Julien Benda19
French essayist 1867–1956

Related quotes

““Modern” poetry is, essentially, an extension of romanticism; it is what romantic poetry wishes or finds it necessary to become. It is the end product of romanticism, all past and no future; it is impossible to go further by any extrapolation of the process by which we have arrived, and certainly it is impossible to remain where we are—who could endure a century of transition?”

Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist

transition [sic] was the avant-garde English-language magazine published in Paris 1927–1938; “A Note on Poetry”, p. 48
Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)

Ali Al-Wardi photo

“One of the conditions for the advancement of a society is having someone opposing and questioning every achievement. This is how a society creates a positive struggle that will lead to a positive change”

Ali Al-Wardi (1913–1995) Iraqi sociologist

Reinhold Niebuhr photo

“The fact that the prevailing mood of modern culture was able to transmute the original pessimism of romanticism into an optimistic creed proves the power of this mood.”

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American protestant theologian

Faith and History: A Comparison of Christian and Modern Views of History (1949)
Context: The fact that the prevailing mood of modern culture was able to transmute the original pessimism of romanticism into an optimistic creed proves the power of this mood. Only occasionally the original pessimism erupts in full vigor, as in the thought of a Schopenhauer or Nietzsche. The subjugation of romantic pessimism, together with the transmutation of Marxist catastrophism establishes historical optimism far beyond the confines of modern rationalism. Though there are minor dissonances the whole chorus of modern culture learned to sing the new song of hope in remarkable harmony. The redemption of mankind, by whatever means, was assured for the future. It was, in fact, assured by the future.

Teal Swan photo

“We have no shot at creating a thriving human society without seeing the truth. And we can’t create a thriving human society without making this a society that is conducive to people being truthful.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

“Not all readers are prepared, at all times, to make independent judgments. But the failure of modern education to equip them to do so even when they have the inclination creates a serious gap in modern culture.”

Robertson Davies book A Voice from the Attic

A Voice from the Attic (1960)

Charles Daniel Balvo photo

“It is very hard to promote and create a society with generations of people that all they have known is violence.”

Charles Daniel Balvo (1951) American archbishop

Nuncio to South Sudan Proposes a Path to Peace https://zenit.org/2014/02/20/nuncio-to-south-sudan-proposes-a-path-to-peace/ (February 20, 2014)

Constance Wu photo

“I don't have the best family life. I'm not going to have a sob story and be like, my parents abandoned me, because they didn't. But they also are not that present. When I'm alone, I'm alone. I don't have anybody to call, and so I have to create meaning from myself.”

Constance Wu (1982) American actress

As quoted in "Constance Wu Doesn’t Want to Be Your “It” Girl" in Vulture https://www.vulture.com/2016/06/constance-wu-c-v-r.html

“From his loftiest pulpit the modern clerc assures man that he is great in proportion as he is practical.”

Julien Benda (1867–1956) French essayist

Source: Treason of the Intellectuals (1927), p. 150

Thomas Paine photo

“Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher.”

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist

Opening lines.
1770s, Common Sense (1776)

Karl Marx photo

“When people speak of ideas that revolutionize society, they do but express the fact that within the old society, the elements of a new one have been created,”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Section 2, paragraph 58.
The Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)
Context: When people speak of ideas that revolutionize society, they do but express the fact that within the old society, the elements of a new one have been created, and that the dissolution of the old ideas keeps even pace with the dissolution of the old conditions of existence.

Related topics