Petre Țuțea
151 words
Translator’s Note:
Petre Țuțea was a Romanian anti-communist dissident. The following is one of the entries from his popular dictionary of aphorisms 322 de vorbe memorabile ale lui Petre Țuțea (“322 Memorable Words from Petre Țuțea,” Bucharest: Humanitas, 2009 [1993]), 45.
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In the French Revolution’s famous Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen, the first proposition is either an absolute idiocy or at best a sophism: men are naturally equal. That’s as if Kant were equal to Iliescu.[1]
Men are naturally unequal. They are unequal members of one family, in which one can be brilliant, another mediocre, and another an imbecile. Hereditary substance is a mystery.
Equality is the greatest enemy of freedom.
The principle of equality, promoted by the world’s democrats, actually only functions in religion, because only the Christian religion considers men equal before God.
Note
1. Ion Iliescu, Romania’s first post-communist president, whom Țuțea considered demonic.
2 Comments
“Equality is the greatest enemy of freedom.”
How few people today would be able to appreciate the validity of this claim. Equality, and the reality-subverting utopia demanded by its proponents, is an addiction for the Left (as well as some who claim to be on the Right). Equality will never exist, therefore the struggle to attain it is eternal; it is the perpetual revolution/struggle so beloved of Marxists and their fellow travellers.
Petre Tutea was a leftist in his youth, flirting with socialism, then turning to the right and eventually becoming a member of the Legionary Movement (The Legion of the Archangel Michael). He was imprisoned for 16 years by the communist regime (1948-1964) and passed away in 1990.
There are numerous testimonies about him in jail, which if translated, would blow your mind away.