Pantheon is Quintus Curtius’ follow-up to Thirty Seven, where he continues historical and philosophical examinations of great men and lost ideas, bringing alive stories of hardship, survival, and masculinity. The book contains 38 essays.
Here are my favorite quotes from the book:
Modern man
Whereas our ancestors had the strength of theological certainty, the modern man, following the star of his own caprice, is tormented by self-doubt and hesitation. Obviously, this certainty of medieval man came at a price. Yet we moderns multiple machines on top of machines, every generation more complex than the previous, with little apparent augmenting of wisdom or maturity.
The invisible eye
People need to feel that they are being watched by invisible eyes in order for them to truly believe a doctrine. The state cannot be everywhere at all times. And religion is that unsleeping sentinel. It is a simple matter to do the right thing when people are watching. Not so simple is it to do the right thing when no one is watching.
Martyr-dom
Doing the right thing (dying as a martyr) is not enough: for his action to be sanctified by God, it must be done in a spirit of true humility and submission to God, without thought of any personal benefit of glory. And in this sentiment, the key message of the play is made clear: it is not enough simply to do what is right. What is more important—what is more transcendent—is to do the right thing for the right reason.
Truth and uncertainty
Did it ever occur to you that what man wants—what he really craves—is the comfort of certainty, rather than the cold, harsh “truth”? What comfort has the “truth” of science brought man, when all is said and done? People now work more than slaves did during the Abbasid Dynasty, or serfs in France in medieval Europe. What can you offer such a man, except more pain and more uncertainty?
Kindling
There are great men all around us, with the potential to influence contemporary events in profound ways. Yet without the appropriate conditions present to act as the kindling, the fires of change would sputter and fizzle into smoky impotence.
Marriage
Marriage should by no means be based on erotic ecstasy. “I see no marriages fail sooner, or more troubled, than such as are concluded for beauty’s sake, or huddled up for amorous desires.” Most successful marriages eventually evolve into some form of non-erotic companionship with the passing of years.
[…]
Any flaw a woman has becomes magnified over time. A small problem now will become a big one later. A man must test her and carefully observe her behavior when evaluating her character. He must not rationalize, excuse, or sugar-coat bad behavior. He must be ruthless and clear-headed when evaluating her character, knowing that a life decision like marriage is a deadly serious matter.
Pursuit of wealth
The excessive pursuit of wealth promotes effeminacy in men. Monetary pursuits are mostly sedentary and indoor, and an obsession with these types of activities causes the body to deteriorate, and the soul to atrophy. Wealth whets the appetite for delicacies, whether it be rich foods or sumptuous clothing.
Glory
…glory is the most useless, and indeed the most harmful. Like a summer shower, it falls suddenly, and evaporates quickly in the suns of circumstance, leaving us with a damp and hollow feeling. And this is why Roman generals in the republican period, when granted a triumph after a foreign campaign, were careful to have their slaves remind them that all glory was fleeting.
A woman’s yes
Between a woman’s yes and no I would not engage to put a pin’s point, so close are they to one another.
Bad fortune
As Seneca the Elder says, quoting Diocles of Carystos: “There is one safeguard against Fortune: not to make an attempt of it too often.” This is true, perhaps. But can we even call this life? I for one cannot. I prefer my victories, however sparse, to be attended by a phalanx of failures, that they may taste sweeter still.
Democracy
Democracy is the most difficult form of government because it requires an educated and engaged citizenry. As mouths multiple and education declines, so do democratic freedoms. Even modern democracy, as found in Western Europe and America, seems to be slowly reverting to authoritarian models, under the steady pressure of technological changes and the loss of privacy rights. What has been most surprising is the ease with which these rights and freedoms have been quietly appropriated in recent decades by many supposed “democratic” governments.
Fame
He who has never lusted after fame will never fear infamy; he who holds the enticements of wealth in slight contempt will never fear the onset of financial hardships
Moral purpose
The wise man, the man of virtue, does not derive his satisfaction from external circumstances, but rather on the superlative qualities he has cultivated within himself through his virtuous pursuit of a moral purpose.
Exile
We will now consider internal exile, or that form of exile produced when a man remains in his country, but finds himself alienated from his immediate surroundings. Men similarly disposed and seeking the same ends tend to find each other; like frogs scattered about along the edge of a pond, or moths fluttering about a light, they inevitably congregate. Where the knowledge being sought is not favored by the mainstream, secret societies are the result.
[…]
Exile, whether internal or external, cannot crush the spirit of the man of virtue. Maintaining his moral purpose, and secure in his mental redoubt, he finds ways of overcoming the barriers placed before him. The mind is a fortress, its casements arranged with stones hewn from the quarry of hard experience and relentless struggle. No assault can capture this citadel, or force entry into its sanctum.
Conflict
Conflict magnifies things, making the insignificant, significant. We can try to control some of these elements, but complete control is never possible. The better way is to learn to use this “friction” to our advantage. We must embrace fluidity, friction, disorder, violence, and uncertainty, knowing that they are inescapable parts of the conflict dynamic.
Civilization
Civilization is a veneer, a mask attached to the face of the clothed ape that is man; and when the mask falls off, the beast behind it is revealed in all his brutishness. Each generation must nurture the gift of civilization, and pass it on, this previous gift, to ensure that the face of barbarism remains safely hidden away. And when society fails in this task, consequences must be paid.
Pantheon, just like its predecessor, serves as a gateway book to many other great works. It gives you enough to sate your palate while leaving the door open for you to continue further study. My only complaint is the extended treatment of neo-Platonism, which was more abstract and dense than the other essays. This is a small complaint in an otherwise worthy book that educates, informs, and inspires. If you liked Thirty Seven then you will surely like Pantheon.
Read More: “Pantheon” on Amazon
Civilization is a veneer, a mask attached to the face of the clothed ape that is man. – The best of them all.
Civilization is not, as one commentator here said, ” a mask attached to the face of the clothed ape that is man”.
Civilization can only be entered at the end of a very long road. It took Europe more than 1 000 years to develop our distinct European civilization. Beyond the civilization, the same road leads to the end of a cliff.
Sadly the atheists don’t understand this. They believe that the thinking we have today, that took took thousands of years, is the default position of man. So these idiots are not willing to defend our civilization, as it is the default, and some of the true idiots, SJWs, believe that the default position is on an even higher level than our civilization. This is why Europe is flooded by third world Islamic immigrants, who hate our culture and heritage, and our universities deconstruct and are utterly hostile to our civilization. The vile hordes of atheist apes push us all over the cliff and the Western Civilization, as we knew it, is gone.
Luckily Slavic Europe has learned, and maybe the US, but most likely Europe is gone forever. Immigrants and traitors have passed the demographic critical mass and soon they will vote for free immigration for the family/clan/village connected to the Muslim immigrants already here. Only hope will then be a civil war where traditional men will be the winners. And since this civil war will have the components of race, religion, culture, language and traitors, it will be far more barbaric compared to what we have seen in the Balkans and Lebanon/Syria. These people shared much of the same food, language, race etc, and still it was barbaric. The future war in Europe will be unmatched in cruelty, very much fueled by Islam, which has zero real human rights for kuffar (non-Muslims) and no respect for the Law of War, as the false-pedo “prophet” Muhammad himself was a war criminal and committed horrific crimes against humanity.
Look at the easy on pathologic altruism on AMREN. It explains the decline of the West in part.
The picture of the infant is presently being hijacked by sjw’s to promote more illegal immigrants bum rushing the show to Europe. The facts are these, the family were in Turkey, they were safe. Frau Merkyl announces that Germany will take in any and all immigrants and then tries to shame (typical sjw behaviour) other member states into taking quotas. The family gets the message and takes a boat to Kos. The Med is not kind and the boat capsizes drowning the mother and two sons. The father survives. Son Is washed up on a beach in Turkey and picture of soldier holding drowned boy suits the narrative that we are being fed every hour on the hour. This is the death of European culture by a thousand cuts. I hope this is the end of the EU. Fuck Germany…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c13X-WZaumc
These are very inspiring quotes.
The style of Quintus reminds me of Evola.
It is very conforting to see such talent in the manosphere.
These talented writers are much needed in order to keep the seed of the Virtus alive.
These quotes would be right at home in some of the battered volumes on my shelf. It is no wonder people discard antique books: you start thinking.
Nice comment.
It goes against our “now bias,” we always think we know better than those who came before, forgetting that in most cases our predecessors originated/invented the things we take for granted, tried the soon-to-be-failed-again policies progressive-socialists keep fixating on, and defeated the very thing we are promoting all over again once before (I guess if you can get people to not read by dumbing them down with Leet speak, tweet-length platitudes, controlling publishers (or educational institutions) so you can remove/control content, or just outright petitioning book banning from stores, then you don’t have to deal with that pesky stigma associated with burning the books outright, eh SJWs? I know there are some of you lurking here looking for material for your click-bait Salon scribbles, why not use the quotes in this article? I’m sure you can think of some way to take them out of context for your own ends.)
I found a bunch of antique books on the side of the road for free. One of them was “The Revolution of Nihilism: A warning to the west” by Hermann Rauschning, a German refugee in 1937-38 who wrote about Nazi Germany. Interesting read so far. Some haunting similarities, as well.
If you are enjoying Rauschning, here might be some more fun reading:
https://mises.org/profile/erik-von-kuehnelt-leddihn
or https://mises.org/library/give-me-liberty-0
Lots of interesting reads for free on mises.
People have lived through this tired garbage already, but Einstein said that insanity was to do the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome. These “leftists/SJWs/ whatever” are mental and/or delusional. They wear their disorders like they’re badges/medals and we let them operate freely in all levels of society.
Thank you for the links. I don’t know when I’ll get around to it: I somehow ended up with a trunk full of my grandfather’s Zane Grey novels that I want to read in addition to my ever-expanding collection.
The path of the manosphere may be right but it sure as hell ain’t popular. When the patients are running the asylum things are bound to get strange. I love Vermont, but as it is part of the Asylum it is only a matter of time before the rural areas are hit… I’m not so sure that they haven’t already.
Modern man strives for immediate comfort and happiness. He does not possess the virtue of patience. When he wants something, he obtains it immediately. When he suffers, his suffering is removed upon request. When he despairs, he strives for self-destruction as he does not possess any other alternative to alleviate his pain. Man is subjected to a pervasive denaturalization; his soul is constrained by the influence and the cravings of the body; his spirit is spoiled by the lack of discipline and any
requirements both from the environment in which he resides as well as from
himself.
And nowhere in these quotes do I see mention of the Diabolical Elite’s manipulation of mankind towards it’s baser instincts.
Great quotes. The kind of quotes that when reread, they don’t become boring, only deeper.
I did not have my glasses on when I read the title of this post, so I thought it read “18 Best Quotes From Penthouse”, but Quintus Curtious’s writings are also good!
Hang tough Roosh. Don’t let the SJW assholes and weasels bring you down.
Have a look at this….I shit you not…. this is the degeneracy to which we have been reduced…..fuck sjw’s……this is war…..
“Calls for rainbow-coloured pedestrian paths in Dublin”
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/calls-for-rainbow-coloured-pedestrian-paths-in-dublin-1.2339217
Last week a Sydney girls’ school showed a film to all its students (unless a parent objected and filled out a film asking for their child to be excused) about 4 children of a same sex household, promoting same sex marriage. There was uproar……because the Left wanted it shown during class time.
Indoctrination is the only word to describe this.
He who controls the minds of the children control the future of society.
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-26/baird-backs-move-to-prevent-gayby-baby-screening-in-class-time/6726354?pfm=sm§ion=nsw
“The excessive pursuit of wealth promotes effeminacy in men. Monetary pursuits are mostly sedentary and indoor, and an obsession with these types of activities causes the body to deteriorate, and the soul to atrophy. Wealth whets the appetite for delicacies, whether it be rich foods or sumptuous clothing.”
Amen to that. I have a relative who sells high cost yachts to very rich clients. These are not the people who go to a boat yard or showroom and pick out a boat. These are people who call someone and say what they want and pay a man to find it.
I have heard of many fellows writing one big check for boats that most of us will never afford in our lives. And I heard about those fellows, many of them in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, many of them men who pursued wealth and (possibly mistakenly) are getting a big expensive boat to show it.
Every last one of them was in bad health. Even the guys in their 30s were having heart problems. Obesity, premature balding, spinal issues, the works.
For that I have always suspected that a man who goes off in pursuit of wealth will not be the same man who started out on that journey, and the money will be reduced in value to nothing.
Old saying: The 2 happiest days in a man’s life are 1) The day he buys his boat and 2) the day he sells his boat….
I would like to say the compromises in principle a man will allow in the pursuit of greed and extravagances never cease to amaze me, but it doesn’t.
It isn’t even sad or infuriating or disappointing anymore, just a warning sign of a
lost individual who is awaiting terrible consequences for terrible choices (be it marriage, friendship, contentment, self-improvement, self-reliance, confidence, etc.). Funny how it all ties together.
Also, nothing new, but our dependence on and fascination with technology is making our collective deviances easier and our fall quicker, as the more we are online the more disconnected we are becoming. So, it is nice to see that if more people are going to use social media anyway, many are following Roosh on Twitter now, tuning into the concepts of masculinity, fighting back in their own corners of the globe, and beginning to use the tech for something positive at least.
And good to see the site up despite the recent juvenile cowardice perpetrated by the pathetic and empty jokes responsible for it.
The Menaissance can’t be stopped.
The Patriarchy will return…stronger than ever.
The shores of the future tense America will be beached by a return of Kings, as we march on for honor, to glory, and by the inspiration of Watchmen Patriots who lived and died for God, or country, or both.
The enemy will fall before our might, and the shackled masculine spirit of the quisling will once more be set free.
We will march on until we raise our flag of victory on the remnants of the failed dead civilization that came before.
Let those who would follow us join us, let those who would oppose us, cower and flee.
The neomasculine Constitutional convention will be held on the ashes of the progressive failure that ran itself into annihilation like the proverbial bug on the windshield. Come and sign your name, New Founding Father.
Before all this can happen though, the true revolutionary prototype Alpha Man must be culled from every red blooded American neomasculine Man here and elsewhere.
Many will be called and few will volunteer to be chosen but, from those, the Alpha led Menaissance will succeed.
Even if one should fall, others shall rise to take his place until both victory and the Patriarchy are secured.
AD PEDEM LITTERAE!
-Letter to Roosh and all the true ROK Alpha Men…September 3rd, 2015.
“Menaissance”. Love it.
My first thought was it has something to do with menstruation. Isn’t menstruation a sexist term anyway? Heard feminazis propose “womenstruation”.
Anthem anyone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPzAYWK1CFo
More good work Mr. Ramos. I think I need to create a Star Trek meme in your honor.
Thanks fellow patriot.
The failure of democracy in the 21st century has long been predicted, it’s only a matter of time before the veterans take over and instill highly-functioning society capable of real infrastructural and beneficial progress. Equalists, hedonists, feel-gooders, marxist scum, they have walked this earth without purpose long enough.
Why do you guys try to create a “brotherhood of men” and include men from all races when men from different races are biologically so very different from each other?
Why the hell would a White man and a Black man feel some sort of brotherly bond when the average IQ of a White is about 105 and that of a Black is 84 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Transracial_Adoption_Study#Results
)?
Racial differences aren’t just about IQ, they’re about our psychology too. Saying men should feel “masculine kinship” between races is about as logical as saying a male wolf and a male Coyote are somehow more similar to each other than they are to the females of their respective species. Any ecologist will tell you that male and female wolves are more similar to each other than they are to coyotes of their respective gender in terms of attitude, instinct, etc.
Don’t you see that you would be destroying the actual sort of kinship and tribalism that matters?
Isolation is a dangerous thing indeed. Men far better than you have attempted to take on an entire world alone and failed miserably. The way I see it, you should be taking friends where you find them and as you need them.
I know there have been many people far better than me who have failed in their various quests. There’s also nothing wrong with allies, but logically creating a “brotherhood of men” that focuses on all races isn’t going to be good for Western civilization. It’s irrational because racial differences do matter and if you ignore those racial differences you destroy the unique genetic characteristics which created Western civilization.
The way I see it, Western men have a duty and an obligation to promote and strengthen Western civilization.
Yes but the two concepts aren’t mutually exclusive. Denying all racial and cultural differences isn’t a prerequisite for creating a brotherhood of men; The minimum requirement is respect for those who’ve earned it. Even Hitler managed to shake Jesse Owens’ hand, at the 1984 Olympics and Western civilization still stood the following day.
Respecting people for their achievements if of course a good thing. But creating a brotherhood of men across racial lines wouldn’t make sense. Hitler treated Owen with the respect he had earned. But he didn’t feel a sense of brotherhood with him. His writings (such as Hitler’s Table Talk) make it clear that his sense of brotherhood was limited to his own race.
Brotherhood and respect are very different things. True brotherhood relates to a sense of belonging and loyalty that can allow a civilization to achieve shockingly impressive things.
On this site, men of all walks can share and compare how to handle their respective women. The white race has been dealt a death blow as far as its reproductive stamina is concerned. A white guy can get on here and learn from PUA’s of every stripe. You don’t have to go to a black power site where you’ll find little on controlling your black bitch or a white power site where the fem centric ‘den mother’ tends to rule over a number of ‘boot boys’. Racialist chicks are some of the biggest carouselling ho bags around just like church socialite bitches who are some of the most unabashed divorce rapists around.
A woman may be of your desired tribe, but how you gonna break the bitch? You can learn on here from accomplished latin lovers or even wild jungle monkeys how to nail the bitch. A lot of high IQ white geeks might pass on their DNA a little more if they learned to agressively swing it like a babboon. Men of every tribe around can learn from other tribes how to control their bitches. Women are all basically the same psychologically.
Feminism threatens everything tribal about our species. Feminism is expanding in tandem coincidentally with world governing bodies and we see at the same time the patriarchal tribe, clan and family being destroyed and replaced by government systems of ‘state husbandry’. Our entire species is being attacked by an alien governing force. ‘State husbandry’ violates the tribal patriarchal programme of our DNA and is clearly a malevolent breach to our entire carnal body as a species. It can only be alien.
LUCKILY a mad resurgence of male awareness of the true nature of women is blossoming here and budding throughout the world. Ruling she bitches in the west prepare again war games to keep their beta regiment control over western man. Pureblood central africans are kept in check with near 100% plantation farm circumcision, famine and fiat money. Pureblood nordics are kept in check with the most extensive hypergamy rally for reparation from their disposessed men ever seen. Pureblood Japanese are fapping and screwing robots. Indians I believe are ripe for a new ‘balls against the wall’ warrior religion to clamp back down on their women.
LUCKILY patriarchy is rising. The great MANBALL GROWS.
Why is everything “nail the bitches” “control the bitches” “bitches” etc.? I don’t know if you realize how you are coming across but that attitude isn’t going to make anybody outside of sites like this respect you. There’s nothing noble about acting like an arrogant ass of a man. I really don’t mean that as an insult. I am just being honest with you. You are obsessing over women and focusing on little problems. 30,000 White women are raped by Black men every year, but no one is complaining about that. Men are supposed to lead and build societies, not sit around and try to use pick up artist lines.
Why should I, a 19 year old girl, respect you if you can’t even speak in a way which is worthy of respect? Why do you deserve respect if you sit and fantasize about “beta males” and “she bitches”? America is being invaded by third world hordes and you want to complain about women. That isn’t the manly thing to do. Women will always complain. Who cares? Get out there and do something meaningful.
“… I prefer my victories, however sparse, to be attended by a phalanx of failures, that they may taste sweeter still.” this quote really stood out to me. The fear of failure is something i believe a lot of people have struggled with . But if more people were willing to adapt this mindset imagine the possibilities.
Most successful marriages eventually evolve into some form of non-erotic companionship with the passing of years.
One of the biggest reasons I am glad I’m no longer married.
Just bought both this and the first book as well, half way through. Amazing, motivational and directional. The things he covers will stir within you feelings of a higher calling and cause you to examine your reasons for doing them. Really good stuff.
Fuck you.
The statements on Wealth and Bad Fortune are very precisely on target!
All this wisdom along with the founding principles of western civilization will be gone within a generation. The barbarians are at the gates. Look at the middle east and the hordes of Arabs that are coming to Europe. They hate Europe and will destroy it from the inside out. When will Europeans understand that the whole notion of civilization is completely alien to Arabs. Even when the Persians overran Athens in ancient times, they simply looted and destroyed and then left after 6 months because they hadn’t a clue how to govern a nation like Greece.
What’s happening at the moment with refugees in the east med sea is truly terrible, but, again the causative agent for so much of this misery relates to the fact that Arabs cannot run their own affairs. As a result, they come to Europe, use our systems and technology and yet go around the place believing in a religious system that’s the antithesis to every western value.
Does anyone seriously not think that the likes of ISIS are not using this refugee crisis as a “Trojan Horse” where they export their parasites back to Europe who can then destroy it from the inside out. Notwithstanding this, the birth rates in most European countries especially Germany and the Nordic countries has fallen dramatically, so the only way they can get workers for their nations is through taking non-white, non-christian, non-nordic people from outside their nations.
The only European country that has seen the wood from the trees is Russia which has an aggressive border control policy and has kicked out international global consortium that wanted to liberalize Russia’s economic and cultural standards.
It will be a great irony of western civilization if it’s eventually only preserved in the likes of Russia!
Fantastic read, after one chapter in I was already questioning opinions of mine I thought were part of a mindset set in stone. The use of history and literature’s many lessons are what ought to be part of school curriculums wordwide. Bravo Quintus!