The True Leaders Of The World Are At Home In Their Graves.

The true leaders of the world are at home in their graves.

Ernst Junger, A German officer in occupied Paris, 23 November 1941

When something is right—right in the highest sense—it must not be demonstrable, it must be debatable. We mortals must strive for it in configurations that are accessible but not absolutely attainable. This then leads to areas where imponderable rather than quantifiable concepts honor the master and produce the artistic urge. Here it is especially the service to, and with, the word that enthralls me—that subtlest of efforts that takes the word to the dividing line that separates it from the ineffable. This also contains a longing for the correct dimensions according to which the universe was created, and which the reader should see through the word as through a window.

Ernst Junger, A German officer in occupied Paris, 18 July 1943

Sword of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria and Duke of Burgundy (1459-1519)

I have a tendency to distance myself from people I love. It’s as if their images developed such power in me that their physical presence becomes intolerable. The man who murders his mistress chooses the opposite path: to possess her he extinguishes her likeness. Perhaps this is how immortals treat us.

Ernst Junger, A German officer in occupied Paris, 14 October 1942

Like atoms, words contain a nucleus around which they orbit, vibrating, and they cannot be touched without unleashing nameless powers.

Ernst Junger, A German officer in occupied Paris, 25 October 1941