Nicolás Gómez Dávila at 100

A century ago today, Nicolás Gómez Dávila was born.

Some aphorisms:

• As long as they do not take him seriously, the man who says the truth can live for a while in a democracy. Then, the hemlock.
• Democratic parliaments are not forums where debates take place, but rather where popular absolutism registers its decrees.
• Being of “divine right” limited the monarch; the “representative of the people” is the representative of absolute Absolutism.
• In order to oppress the people, it is necessary to suppress in the name of the people that which stands out from the people.
• Revolutions are frightening, but election campaigns are disgusting.
• Liberty is the right to be different; equality is a ban on being different.
• No folktale ever began this way: Once upon a time, there was a president…