Aphorisms of E.H. Looney, Part Five

A little preface: E.H. Looney was one of the foremost traditionalist reactionaries on Twitter back in the good ol’ days (@Gaelic_Norseman). His aphoristic tweets on Christianity, democracy, history, and culture were among the very best in terms of substance and wit. Although a majority of them are lost, there are still a small handful that I’ve preserved in an Evernote notebook, and I simply find them worthy of sharing. Credit to Wrath of Gnon for also preserving and sharing some of them over the years, too. This is part five; here’s part one, part two, part three, and part four. — E

“Hereditary Monarchy is the best form of government for many reasons, not the least that it is the only form of government that ensures that anybody—hero or coward, genius or imbecile, healthy or sick, sane or insane—can be king. Anybody.”

“A bad democracy can only be redeemed in a sea of blood. A bad monarchy can be redeemed by a drop of poisoned wine.”

“Duty makes the man.”

“When a society forgets that there are many things worse than death, that society itself will die.”

“A society obsessed with freedom is a society of slaves.”

“Man is a microcosm of the entire world; save yourself and you save the world. One man damned the world, one man saved it.”

“It’s not as if people in the alt-right or even heathens don’t love truth, it’s that they have a horribly unrefined palate. They keep getting obliterated on Bud Ice when down here in the cellar of the Church we have the best Burgundy.”

“The less masculine a man is, the less he should be listened to on any subject, especially religion and politics. Resentment fuels his entire worldview.”

“Dueling may seem barbaric at first glance, but it’s a sure cure for snark.”

“We have everything upside down. Where we should be idealists—our moral, economic, and religious lives—we are pragmatic realists. Where we should be realists—our political life—we are instead intransigent idealists.”

“You must have a certain joie de vivre to be a successful Rightist. The aristocratic, devil-may-care attitude is an absolutely essential part of any successful man of the right.”

“Conservatism is a wet blanket atop the fire of Tradition.”

“They thought they were worshiping the incorruptible Goddess Reason, but she soon turned into the bitch-goddess Feelings, and that bitch is a tyrant.”

“Pride is the solvent of hierarchy; humility the mortar.”

“Yankee: ‘Gone With the Wind is a novel, a fictional account of the Old South.’ So is Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but that never stopped you.”