Ivan L.

“Almost all our faults are more pardonable than the methods we resort to to hide them.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld

“For there is no doubt that the most radical division that it is possible to make of humanity is that which splits it into two classes of creatures: those who make great demands on themselves, piling up difficulties and duties; and those who demand nothing special of themselves, but for whom to live is to be every moment what they already are, without imposing on themselves any effort towards perfection; mere buoys that float on the waves.”
― José Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses

“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.”
― H.L. Mencken

“Nerve doctors who pathologize genius should have their heads bashed in with the collected works of genius. And those humanists who decry the vivisection of guinea pigs while while applauding the subjection of works of art to psychologizing deserve the same treatment.”
― Karl Kraus