Don Colacho’s Aphorisms

The immigration of the peasant into the cities was less disastrous than that of the notable from the people. Rural society, on the one hand,...

When the tyrant is the anonymous law, modern man believes he is free. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 429

Where even the last vestige of feudal ties disappears, the increasing social isolation of the individual and his increasing helplessness fus...

It is not the vague notion of “service” that deserves respect, but the concrete notion of “servant.” Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selecció...

The atomization of society derives from the modern division of labor: where nobody knows specifically for whom he works, nor who specificall...

An overpopulated country is one where every citizen is practically anonymous. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 409

Eroticism and Gnosticism are the individual’s recourse against the anonymity of mass society. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. ...

The anonymity of modern society obliges everyone to claim to be important. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 380

Even small-town grudges are more civilized than the mutual indifference of big cities. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 364

The bourgeoisie, in the feudal framework, settles in small urban centers where it becomes structured and civilized. With the break-up of thi...

The despotic decisions of the modern state are, in the end, made by an anonymous, subordinate, pusillanimous bureaucrat, who is probably als...

That which impersonalizes degrades. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 248

Modern man accepts any yoke, as long as the hand imposing it is impersonal. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección , p. 231

To be effective, the abuse of power presupposes the anonymity of the oppressor or the anonymity of the oppressed. Despotisms fail when unmi...

With the object of preventing dangerous concentrations of economic power in the hands of a few anonymous associations, socialism proposes th...

The anonymity of the modern city is as intolerable as the familiarity of modern customs. Life should resemble a salon of people with good m...

Modern man does not imagine any end higher than to serve the anonymous whims of his fellow citizens. Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selecció...

The cause of democracy’s stupidities is confidence in the anonymous citizen; and the cause of its crimes is the anonymous citizen’s confiden...