Author of quotes: Max Nordau

Was the hero monkey that Darwin tells about Brehm, a slave who rebelled against the masters? “All baboons,” says Darwin, “climbed back to the heights, with the exception of a young, about six-month-old cub, who, crying loudly for help, climbed a cliff, where he was surrounded by dogs. And so one of the largest males descended from the heights, a real hero, slowly approached the young baboon, caressed him and solemnly took him away, and the dogs, out of amazement, did not even dare to attack the receding monkeys.

This artistic principle falls into the hands of the dung beetles crawling behind Zola. Their mediocrity becomes a brilliant virtue for them. They know nothing, are not capable of anything, and therefore have a special predilection for the "modern", as they put it. In their so-called novels there are no people, no characters, no plot, no denouement, no positions, but this is their merit, O pathetic, stupid profane who do not notice it!

Wherever we look in prehistoric times, we will encounter man as a herd animal that in no case could exist if it did not possess the instincts that determine living together, that is, sympathy and a certain degree of selflessness. We find these instincts even in monkeys, and if they are absent in the breeds most similar to humans, in the orangutan and the gibbon, then this in the eyes of some researchers serves as sufficient evidence that these breeds degenerated and became extinct. Hence, it is not true that man has ever been a "lonely prowling animal.

His <Fridrich Nietzsche> megalomania is found only in exceptional cases in conceit, monstrous, but still understandable. For the most part, it is mixed with a strong dose of mysticism and belief in one's supernaturalness. A simple conceit can be recognized when, for example, he says: "As for my Zarathustra, I do not allow him to be understood by anyone who has not ever felt hurt by his every word and who has ever not admired it: only then can a person enjoy the privilege of reverently joining the Chalkion element, which is generated by this work, to his sunny clarity, breadth, distance and certainty."

Nietzsche's mysticism and megalomania are manifested not only in his somewhat coherent thoughts, but also in his general manner of expressing himself. The mystical numbers "three" and "seven" are often found in him. If he is imbued with the consciousness of his own greatness, then the outside world seems to him great, distant, deep, and the words expressing these concepts are dazzling on every page, in almost every line.

A true poet is always truthful, and a mediocre imitator never; the first is true even when he does not consider it necessary to adhere to reality in all the details, and the second deviates from the truth, even when he observes every little thing with extreme attention and is guided by the land surveyor's method.

They chatter incessantly, and pour out brilliant witticisms and puns, fight alone against ten, love like Hercules on a Thespian night, in a word, their whole life passes in a continuous struggle, in impulses of voluptuousness, in intoxication and splendor. This is a kind of megalomania with gladiatorial, Don Juan and Montecrist performances, an insane waste of physical strength, fun, gold.

Men fill the picture. True, they still have common sense or are afraid of ridicule that in their costumes they shy away from screaming oddities, for example, red tailcoats with metal buttons and short trousers with silk stockings, for which there are few hunters, idiots with monocles in their eyes, obviously envious of the theater artists monkeys.

In his poems and prose, Gothier is a simple artisan, strung brilliant adjectives without putting any thought into them. His descriptions never give a definite idea of the subject. They resemble a rough mosaic of the times of the decline of Byzantine art. Individual stones - lapis lazuli, malachite, jasper, chrysoprase - give the impression of barbaric luxury here, but do not represent any pattern.

This does not contradict nature: there are harmful or strange phenomena in it, perceived as something beautiful, because some of their features or parts do not evoke the idea of harm or horror. Poisonous snakes are sometimes beautiful, as are poisonous plants or beasts of prey. The harm caused by a poisonous snake does not depend on the beauty of its skin, the danger of a poisonous plant does not depend on the plant or the color of its flower, the horror caused by a predatory beast does not depend on the grace of its posture. The sensually beautiful prevails in these cases over the morally ugly, because it is clearer and, therefore, gives immediate pleasure. The sight of courage and strength also makes an aesthetic impression. But no one will enjoy the sight of the killer overcoming the strong resistance of the victim and killing her. It is unthinkable here to distinguish between the manifestation of strength and the goal at which it is directed.

When all the skins were ripped off, when the consumer and the manufacturer became naked, then it became clear what a million was, where did the billion come from, what the speculator is in itself, who is this robber knight, who calls himself a merchant, oncolist, courier, gesheftmacher, etc.

Loneliness is good. It fuels the creative impulse.

Judgments that are considered indisputable because they have never been subjected to analysis must be reconciled and presented with their legal documents; it often turns out that they do not have them at all.

Financial crises are the pistons that big business is sucking the collective surplus earnings of the nation.