--- title: "1 Intellectual Activity Quotes By Julien Benda" description: "1 Intellectual Activity quotes by Julien Benda. Plus more from Julien Benda and more Intellectual Activity sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/julien-benda-29115_activity_since-the-greeks-the-predominant-attitud_2280598.jpg" --- > [Since the Greeks the predominant attitude of thinkers towards intellectual activity was to glorify it insofar as (like aesthetic activity) it finds its satisfaction in itself, apart from any attention to the advantages it may procure. Most thinkers would have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/since-the-greeks-the-predominant-attitude-of-thinkers-towards/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aeb/julien-benda-29115_activity_since-the-greeks-the-predominant-attitud_2280598.jpg) ## More by Julien Benda > [Peace is only possible if men cease to place their happiness in the possession of things "which cannot be shared," and if they raise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/peace-is-only-possible-if-men-cease-to-place-their-happiness-in-the/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [Philosophy, which formerly raised man to feel conscious of himself because he was a thinking being and to say, 'I think therefore I am,"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/philosophy-which-formerly-raised-man-to-feel-conscious-of-himself/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [And History will smile to think that this is the species for which Socrates and Jesus Christ died.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/and-history-will-smile-to-think-that-this-is-the-species-for-which/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [Nothing seems to me more doubtful than Aristotle's remark that it is probable the arts and philosophy have several times been discovered and several…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/nothing-seems-to-me-more-doubtful-than-aristotle-s-remark-that-it-is/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [It may be said that modern Europe with teachers who inform it that its realist instincts are beautiful, acts ill and honors what is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/it-may-be-said-that-modern-europe-with-teachers-who-inform-it-that/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [Peace is only possible if men cease to place their happiness in the possession of things which cannot be shared.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/peace-is-only-possible-if-men-cease-to-place-their-happiness-in-the-2/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [Christianity exhorted man to set himself up against Nature, but did so in the name of his spiritual and disinterested attributes. Pragmatism exhorts him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/christianity-exhorted-man-to-set-himself-up-against-nature-but-did-so/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [The modern moralists extol ... the cult of practical activity in defiance of the disinterested life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/the-modern-moralists-extol-the-cult-of-practical-activity-in-defiance/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [The man of science, the artist, the philosopher are attached to their nations as much as the day-laborer and the merchant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/the-man-of-science-the-artist-the-philosopher-are-attached-to-their/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [I shall go further and say that even if an examination of the past could lead to any valid prediction concerning man's future, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/i-shall-go-further-and-say-that-even-if-an-examination-of-the-past/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [The true clerc is Vauvenargues, Lamarck, Fresnel, Spinoza, Schiller, Baudelaire, César Franck, who were never diverted from single-hearted adoration of the beautiful and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/the-true-clerc-is-vauvenargues-lamarck-fresnel-spinoza-schiller/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [Since the Greeks the predominant attitude of thinkers towards intellectual activity was to glorify it insofar as (like aesthetic activity) it finds its satisfaction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/since-the-greeks-the-predominant-attitude-of-thinkers-towards/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [The modern clercs have created in so-called cultivated society a positive romanticism of harshness. The have also created a romanticism of contempt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/the-modern-clercs-have-created-in-so-called-cultivated-society-a/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [All Europe, including Erasmus, has followed Luther.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/all-europe-including-erasmus-has-followed-luther/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) > [Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war but on the love of peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-benda/peace-if-it-ever-exists-will-not-be-based-on-the-fear-of-war-but-on-2/) [Julien Benda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-benda/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectual-activity/julien-benda/#itemlist", "name": "1 Intellectual Activity Quotes By Julien Benda", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Since the Greeks the predominant attitude of thinkers towards intellectual activity was to glorify it insofar as (like aesthetic activity) it finds its satisfaction in itself, apart from any attention to the advantages it may procure. Most thinkers would have agreed with Renan's verdict that the man who loves science for its fruits commits the worst of blasphemies against that divinity. The modern clercs have violently torn up this charter. 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