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

—  Julien Benda

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

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 "From his loftiest pulpit the modern clerc assures man that he is great in proportion as he is practical." by Julien Benda?
Julien Benda photo
Julien Benda19
French essayist 1867–1956

Related quotes

Nassim Nicholas Taleb photo

“A man is honorable in proportion to the personal risks he takes for his opinion.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder

Source: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (2012), p. 147

John of Salisbury photo

“A man is free in proportion to the measure of his virtues, and the extent to which he is free determines what his virtues can accomplish.”
Et pro virtutum habitu quilibet et liber est, et, quatenus est liber, eatenus virtutibus pollet.

John of Salisbury Policraticus

Bk. 7, ch. 25
Policraticus (1159)

William Wordsworth photo

“Every great and original writer, in proportion as he is great and original, must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished.”

William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Romantic poet

Letter to Lady Beaumont (May 21, 1807).

Henry Cabot Lodge photo

“He was a great patriot, a great man; above all, a great American. His country was the ruling, mastering passion of his life from the beginning even unto the end.”

Henry Cabot Lodge (1850–1924) American statesman

Theodore Roosevelt, Address Before Congress (February 9, 1919).

Henry Miller photo

“Modern man has much to learn from the people he calls 'savages.'”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

Reflections (1981)
Context: The pygmies are one of the most cultured peoples on the face of the earth. They live a wonderful life, a life of purity. Not only are they busy and productive, they're happy and healthy as well. If we puny Americans had to live under their conditions, we'd perish in a day. Modern man has much to learn from the people he calls 'savages.' Before we are down to the last blade of grass it would be wise to study the life of the Pygmies. The secret of our own survival rests with them, the people who know how to make the most out of very little and find complete happiness with the bare essentials.

“Unlike modern man, who dreams of the world he will make, pre-modern man dreamed of the world he left.”

Robert L. Heilbroner (1919–2005) American historian and economist

Source: The Future As History (1960), Chapter I, Part 3, The Future as the Mirror of the Past, p. 19

Alan Shepard photo

“His service will always loom large in America's history. He is one of the great heroes of modern America.”

Alan Shepard (1923–1998) American astronaut

President Bill Clinton — reported in Seth Borenstein (July 23, 1998) "Astronaut Filled America's Need for a Space Hero", Detroit Free Press, p. 1A.
About

Bertrand Russell photo

“No man is liberated from fear who dare not see his place in the world as it is; no man can achieve the greatness of which he is capable until he has allowed himself to see his own littleness.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

Dreams and Facts (1919)
1910s

“One of the principle causes is that the modern world has made the clerc into a citizen, subject to all the responsibilities of a citizen, and consequently to despise lay passions is far more difficult for him than for his predecessors.”

Julien Benda (1867–1956) French essayist

Source: Treason of the Intellectuals (1927), p. 158

“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 (1867–1956) French essayist

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

Related topics