Category Archives: – Aphorisms

Aphorism of the Day

El órgano del placer es la inteligencia. The organ of pleasure is the intellect. (Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito, 2.84)

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Aphorism of the Day

El tonto instruido tiene más ancho campo para practicar su tontería. The educated fool has a wider field in which to practice his folly. (Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito, 1.96)

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Aphorism of the Day

La civilización es un campamento mal empalizado en medio de tribus insumisas. Civilization is a poorly-fortified camp surrounded by unpacified tribes. (Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito, 1.268)

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Good Advice?

No debemos utilizar como documento histórico las obras maestras, sino las mediocres.Lo que diferencia a las épocas es su manera de fracasar. For historical evidence, we should not use the masterpieces but the mediocre works.What distinguishes epochs is their style … Continue reading

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Gómez Dávila On Reading

Sólo debemos leer para descubrir lo que debemos releer eternamente. We ought to read only to discover what we ought to reread forever. (Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito, 1.214) Lector auténtico es el que lee por placer … Continue reading

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Gómez Dávila on Caesar

La prosa de César es la voz misma del patriciado: dura, sencilla, lúcida. La aristocracia no es un montón de oropeles, sino una voz tajante. Caesar’s prose is the very voice of the patriciate: hard, simple, transparent. The aristocracy is … Continue reading

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Aphorism Of The Day

Hoy para ser puritano basta tener gusto. To be a puritan today, it is enough to have taste. (Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito, 1.379)

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Schopenhauer On Books II

According to Herodotus, Xerxes wept at the sight of his enormous army to think that, of all these men, not one would be alive in a hundred years’ time; so who cannot but weep at the sight of the thick … Continue reading

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Schopenhauer On Books I

As the strata of the earth preserve in succession the living creatures of past epochs, so the shelves of libraries preserve in succession the errors of the past and their expositions, which like the former were very lively and made … Continue reading

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Schopenhauer On Reading II

Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents. Ibid.

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Schopenhauer On Reading I

The art of not reading is a very important one. It consists in not taking an interest in whatever may be engaging the attention of the general public at any particular time. When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, … Continue reading

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