Few ideas seem as stupid to me as nationalism. I do not close the sentence and the mind points me to the objection: Dostoevsky, Hugo, Cervantes… I reject it. What these and many other “patriots” did goes beyond the limited boundaries of where they lived: the art they created is an expression of universal value. It would be unworthy to summarize them as “nationalists”. Nationalism is one of the many doors to stupidity, the ordinary patriot is a pretentious ignorant who always limits his intellect, thanks to that despicable feeling that Cioran repeatedly called péché contre l’esprit. Cioran: an example of courage and freedom of spirit; a man without a homeland; someone who has learned, in practice, that there is not an inch between national pride and the most abject idolatry.
Nationalism and Stupidity
