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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 Treason of the Intellectuals (1927)

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More quotes by Julien Benda

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

Treason of the Intellectuals (1927)

That teaching according to which intellectual activity is worthy of esteem to the extent that it is practical and to that extent alone.

Treason of the Intellectuals (1927)

The modern moralists extol … the cult of practical activity in defiance of the disinterested life.

Treason of the Intellectuals (1927)

The desire to abase the values of knowledge before the values of action...

Treason of the Intellectuals (1927)

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

Treason of the Intellectuals (1927)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Julien Benda (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.