The pure modernist is merely a snob; he cannot bear to be a month behind the fashion.
"The Case for the Ephemeral"
All Things Considered (1908)
Kontext: It is incomprehensible to me that any thinker can calmly call himself a modernist; he might as well call himself a Thursdayite. … The real objection to modernism is simply that it is a form of snobbishness. It is an attempt to crush a rational opponent not by reason, but by some mystery of superiority, by hinting that one is specially up to date or particularly "in the know." To flaunt the fact that we have had all the last books from Germany is simply vulgar; like flaunting the fact that we have had all the last bonnets from Paris. To introduce into philosophical discussions a sneer at a creed’s antiquity is like introducing a sneer at a lady’s age. It is caddish because it is irrelevant. The pure modernist is merely a snob; he cannot bear to be a month behind the fashion.
„Móda je tak neznesiteľná forma škaredosti, že ju musíme meniť každých šesť mesiacov.“
„Mesiac je pre osamelých priateľom, s ktorým sa môžu porozprávať.“
„Nebuď snob! Neklam vtedy, keď sa pravda lepšie vypláca.“
„Na snoba sa nemožno spoliehať. Dielo, ktoré chváli, môže byť naozaj dobré.“
Varianta: Snob je nespoľahlivý. Dielo, ktoré chváli, je možno dobré.
„Kto by nemohol byť šťastný, keď má slobodou, knihy, kvety a Mesiac?“
