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The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large QUOTES

The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large QUOTES

1 " To accuse nations (not leaders or governments) is the hallmark of the demo-nationalist of the nineteenth or twentieth centuries; it leads to endless hatreds, feelings of revenge, misunderstandings, and frictions. It is the surest guarantee for perpetual mass wars. "

― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large

2 " The great pagan sadness of modern man is largely due to his premonition of ultimate disaster. "

― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large

3 " The essence of modern capitalism is not slavery of the antique pattern but the possession of the expensive tools of production by a small plutocratic group which controls frequently the tools of persuasion. "

― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large

4 " In a struggle against a revolutionary idea it is only possible to use ideological elements which are a thousand times more radical, or adopt principles which represent a total reaction against them. "

― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large

5 " Russian bolshevism, replacing eastern Christendom by the grim religiosity of Marx, produced a caricature of the evangelical counsels with many a diabolical aspect. There is a good deal of “communism” in monasteries and convents, yet this is based upon a voluntary renunciation of perfect human rights. On account of our free will we can make supreme sacrifices which ennobles our very existence. Bolshevism on the other hand forces us brutally into a parody of monastic life amidst fellow monks and fellow nuns who hate their habit and sigh under the ferocious tyranny of their pseudo-abbot. This evil distortion of an otherwise Christian ideal is more satanic than wanton, a thoroughly pagan and diabolic opposition to Christian existence. This explains also the reason why the Vatican has found stronger words against “altruistic” bolshevism than against egoistic capitalism "

― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large

6 " This new environmental determinism (as, for instance, preached by John Dewey and his behaviorist forerunners) is an even more evil invention than Calvin's doctrine concerning predestination. Environment is merely a factor, an influence exercised on the human free will, but not a fatal and coercive power. "

― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large

7 " Europe's rise is written in the terms of Christianity & Monarchy, Europe's decay in the terms of Republicanism, Progressivism & Godlessness. "

― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large

8 " There is no such thing as a historical fatality; there is only a historical nemesis which punishes those who have hesitated to act when action was still possible. "

― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large

9 " If only one country adopts conscription it automatically forces the rest of the world to imitate its practice. The "abyss calls to the abyss." The United States has been so forced, against her best tradition, to adopt conscription and so becomes a victim of circumstances. Yet, though the majority dislike conscription, still the majority recognize it as a grim necessity of these times. "

― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large

10 " There are thousands in every country boasting of a popular representation who do not even faintly agree with any of the existing political parties. These people are to all practical purposes deprived of any participation in government. Whereas almost everybody was excluded in the times of absolute monarchies from having a share in the government, the Parliamentarian Monarchies and Republics invited eagerly everybody to take a hand in the shaping of the political destiny of his country. Yet the effort contributed by the individual in America or in prewar France will only be, respectively, one seventy millionth or one twelve millionth of the sum total of the popular “decision.” If one would compare the total of all possible votes in the United States with the height of the Empire State building in New York, the individual vote would be in proportion roughly 5 μ, i.e., the five-thousandth part of an inch; thus the importance of the individual is practically nil. He is only important as an atom in a mass. And Modern Constitutionalism prided itself that it attaches importance to the individual who in his turn embraced Parliamentarianism to be important. This farce becomes more apparent when we remember with what pitying contempt the citizens of “great democracies” looked down at the “subjects” of European monarchies as mere chattel, forgetful of their submicroscopic importance in their own political system. "

― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn , The Menace of The Herd: Or, Procrustes at Large