Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us - by obligations, not by rights. Noblesse oblige. 'To live as one likes is plebeian; the noble man aspires to order and law.' — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share Image
It would be a piece of ingenuousness to accuse the man of today of his lack of moral code. The accusation would leave him… — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
In these years we are witnessing the gigantic spectacle of innumerable human lives wandering about lost in their own labyrinths, through not having anything… — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
In order to master the unruly torrent of life the learned man meditates, the poet quivers, and the political hero erects the fortress of… — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
The common man, finding himself in a world so excellent, technically and socially, believes it has been produced by nature, and never thinks of… — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
The form most contradictory to human life that can appear among the human species is the "self-sat-isfied man. — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
“For there is no doubt that the most radical division that is possible to make of humanity is that which splits into two classes… — José Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
What makes a nation great is not primarily its great men, but the stature of its innumerable mediocre ones. — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand. This is the sport, the luxury, special to the intellectual man. — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
Romantic poses aside, let us recognize that "falling in love"...is an inferior state of mind, a form of transitory imbecility. — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
The masses think that is is easy to flee from reality, when it is the most difficult thing in the world. — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
The librarian's mission should be, not like up to now, a mere handling of the book as an object, but rather a know how… — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
Whether he be an original or a plagiarist, man is the novelist of himself. — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
Here, then, is the point at which I see the new mission of the librarian rise up incomparably higher than all those preceding. Up… — Jose Ortega y Gasset Copy Share
