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Chris Lavergne

4,407 Quotes
President of Thought.is
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4,407 quotes curated by Chris Lavergne:

“The discernment involved would be very much like seeing the truth of complex mathematical formulae. Many may fail to perceive such truths, but once seen, such truths are unproblematic. That the many may fail to see such truths in those circumstances cannot count as evidence of the errancy of those truths, but rather of the dullness of the average person.”
— James Gregor, Mussolini's Intellectuals: Fascist Social and Political Thought
Tagged: Against Mediocrity, Cultural Elitism vs. Democratic Consumerism, Defining Quality
“We have created a myth, this myth is a belief, a noble enthusiasm; it does not need to be reality, it is a striving and a hope, belief and courage. Our myth is the nation, the great nation which we want to make into a concrete reality for ourselves.”
— Benito Mussolini, The Handbook of Political Sociology
Tagged: Myths, Reality, Italian Pagan Catholicism
“In Schmitt’s view, all thought, which does not recognize that order is created out of disorder and that rationality is based on an 'irrational' foundation, is itself irrational.”
— Mika Ojakangas, A Philosophy of Concrete Life: Carl Schmitt and the Political Thought of Late Modernity
Tagged: Epistemology, Groundless Ground, Unreason, Logic Against Logic
“The pinnacle of great politics is the moment in which the enemy comes into view in concrete clarity as the enemy.”
— Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political
Tagged: Enemy, US vs. Them
“The state acts in many disguises but always as the same invisible person.”
— Carl Schmitt, Political Theology
Tagged: Politics, Bureaucracy, Government
“The exception is more interesting than the rule. The rule proves nothing; the exception proves everything: It confirms not only the rule but also its existence, which derives only from the exception. In the exception the power of real life breaks through the crust of a mechanism that has become torpid by repetition.”
— Carl Schmitt, Political Theology
Tagged: Repetition, The Exception
“The indifference of trees to the historical moment. The indifference of dreams to interpretation. The indifference of the people to its own triumph. The indifference of the body to the revolution. The dazzling metaphysical spectacle of the sameness of faces the morning after revolution. ”
— Jean Baudrillard, Cool Memories
Tagged: Revolution
“History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.”
— Stephen Dedalus, Ulysses
Tagged: History, Nightmare
“Toward the end of his life Max Weber was asked by a friend to whom he had been explaining the pessimistic conclusions of his sociological analysis: ‘But, if you think this way, why do you continue doing sociology?’ Weber’s reply is one of the most chilling statements I know in the history of Western thought: ‘Because I want know how much I can stand.’”
— Peter L. Berger, Facing Up To Modernity: Excursions in Society, Politics, and Religion
Tagged: Pessimisim, Sociology
“Sometimes what being a fan seems to be most about is self-defeat.”
— David Shields, Black Planet
Tagged: Fandom, Sports