From his loftiest pulpit the modern clerc assures man that he is great in proportion as he is practical. - Julien Benda

Teachers … preach “the superiority of the intelligence”; but they preach it because in their opinion it is the intelligence which shows us the actions required for our interests, i.e. from exactly the same passion for the practical.

That teaching of modern metaphysics which exhorts man to feel comparatively little esteem for the truly thinking portion of himself and to honor the active and willing part of himself with all his devotion...

The modern clercs have created in so-called cultivated society a positive romanticism of harshness. The have also created a romanticism of contempt.