Barbarism Is The Absence Of Standards To

Thought Is Not A Gift To Man But A Laborious, Precarious And Volatile Acquisition.

We Cannot Put Off Living Until We Are Ready. The Most Salient Characteristic Of Life Is Its Urgency, 'here And Now' Without Any Possible Postponement. Life Is Fired At Us Point-blank.

The Common Man, Finding Himself In A World So Excellent, Technically And Socially, Believes It Has Been Produced By Nature, And Never Thinks Of The Personal Efforts Of Highly Endowed Individuals Which The Creation Of This New World Presupposed. Still Less Will He Admit The Notion That All These Facilities Still Require The Support Of Certain Difficult Human Virtues, The Least Failure Of Which Would Cause The Rapid Disappearance Of The Whole Magnificent Edifice.

Strictly Speaking, The Mass, As A Psychological Fact, Can Be Defined Without Waiting For Individuals To Appear In Mass Formation. In The Presence Of One Individual We Can Decide Whether He Is "mass" Or Not. The Mass Is All That Which Sets No Value On Itself Good Or Ill Based On Specific Grounds, But Which Feels Itself "just Like Everybody," And Nevertheless Is Not Concerned About It; Is, In Fact, Quite Happy To Feel Itself As One With Everybody Else.

We Distinguish The Excellent Man From The Common Man By Saying That The Former Is The One Who Makes Great Demands On Himself, And The Latter Who Makes No Demands On Himself.