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Quote by Czeslaw Milosz

“If the world is divided between Fascism and Communism, obviously Fascism must lose since it is the last, desperate refuge of the bourgeoisie”

Author

Czeslaw Milosz

Czeslaw Milosz was a renowned Polish poet, essayist, and translator. Born on June 30, 1911, in Lithuania, he passed away on August 14, 2004. Milosz's poetry is celebrated for its deep exploration of human existence, history, and politics, reflecting the complex history of Poland and Eastern Europe. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980 for his significant contributions to poetry and prose. more

“The latent conflict between the intellectual and the economic upper class is nowhere openly engaged as yet, least of all by the artists, who, with their less developed social consciousness, react more slowly than their humanistic masters. But the problem, even if it is un-admitted and unexpressed is present all the time and in all places, and the whole intelligenstsia, both literary and artistic, is threatened by the danger of developing either into an uprooted, "unbourgeois", and envious class of bohemians or into a conservative, passive cringing class of academics. The humanists escape from from this alternative into their ivory tower, and finally succumb to both the dangers which they had intended to avoid.”

Conflict Artists Escapism Bourgeoisie Intellectuals Ivory Tower Uprooted

Book:The Social History of Art: Volume 2: Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque

Source: The Social History of Art: Volume 2: Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque

“Naturally, the single individual can be wrecked by old institutions just as much as he can be destroyed by the representatives of a new world. A class, however, that believes in its ultimate victory, will regard its sacrifices as the price of victory, whereas the other class, that feels the approach of its own inevitable ruin, sees in the tragic destiny of its heroes a sign of the coming end of the world and a twilight of the gods. The destructive blows of blind fate offer no satisfaction to the optimistic middle class which believes in the victory of its cause; only the dying classes of tragic ages find comfort in the thought that in this world all great and noble things are doomed to destruction and wish to place this destruction in a transfiguring light. Perhaps the romantic philosophy of tragedy, with its apotheosis of the self-sacrificing hero, is already a sign of the decadence of the bourgeoisie. The middle class will, at any rate, not produce a tragic drama in which fate is resignedly accepted until it feels threatened with the loss of its very life; then, for the first time, it will see, as happens in Ibsen’s play, fate knocking at the door in the menacing shape of triumphant youth.”

Bourgeoisie Twilight Of Gods

Book:The Social History of Art Volume 3: Rococo, Classicism and Romanticism

Source: The Social History of Art Volume 3: Rococo, Classicism and Romanticism

“Bourgeoise. Proletariat. It is all relative.”

Relativity Proletariat Bourgeoisie

Author:Kamini Arichandran

“It is unlikely those who signed the [US.] Constitution were 100 percent oblivious to how remarkable it was that they managed to set aside regional ambitions and affirm the value of forming a sustainable union of alliances... Faith and trust in each other was a lot harder to come by than faith and trust in individual religions or ideology. Yet they managed to balance any inclinations towards either by incorporating into the Constitution ideas concerning individual rights, the separation of governmental powers, and popular sovereignty, at the time considered fresh by some and dangerous by others…”