The Choice Of A Point Of View

The History Of The Roman Empire Is Also The History Of The Uprising Of The Empire Of The Masses, Who Absorb And Annul The Directing Minorities And Put Themselves In Their Place. Then, Also, Is Produced The Phenomenon Of Agglomeration, Of "the Full." For That Reason, As Spengler Has Very Well Observed, It Was Necessary, Just As In Our Day, To Construct Enormous Buildings. The Epoch Of The Masses Is The Epoch Of The Colossal.

We Live At A Time When Man Believes Himself Fabulously Capable Of Creation, But He Does Not Know What To Create.

This Fighting-shy Of Every Obligation Partly Explains The Phenomenon, Half Ridiculous, Half Disgraceful, Of The Setting-up In Our Days Of The Platform Of "youth" As Youth. ... In Comic Fashion People Call Themselves "young," Because They Have Heard That Youth Has More Rights Than Obligations, Since It Can Put Off The Fulfilment Of These Latter To The Greek Kalends Of Maturity. ...[t]he Astounding Thing At Present Is That These Take It As An Effective Right Precisely In Order To Claim For Themselves All Those Other Rights Which Only Belong To The Man Who Has Already Done Something.

Were Art To Redeem Man, It Could Do So Only By Saving Him From The Seriousness Of Life And Restoring Him To An Unexpected Boyishness. The Symbol Of Art Is Seen Again In The Magic Flute Of The Great God Pan Which Makes The Young Goats Frisk At The Edge Of The Grove. All Modern Art Begins To Appear Comprehensible And In A Way Great When It Is Interpreted As An Attempt To Instill Youthfulness Into An Ancient World.

In Order To Master The Unruly Torrent Of Life The Learned Man Meditates, The Poet Quivers, And The Political Hero Erects The Fortress Of His Will.