Giovanni Gentile Quotes

Giovanni Gentile on Freedom

• “Origini e dottrina del fascismo , Rome (1929) p. 58, A. James Gregor , The Ideology of Fascism: The Rationale of Totalitarianism , New York: NY, The Free Press (1969) p. 317”

  Fascism as a consequence of its Marxian and Sorelian patrimony . . . conjoined with the influence of contemporary Italian idealism , through which Fascist thought attained maturity, conceives philosophy as praxis.

• “The merit of Fascism was that it courageously and vigorously opposed itself to the prejudices of contemporary liberalism—to affirm that the liberty proposed by liberalism serves neither the people nor the individual.”

  Orgini e dottrina del fascismo , Rome: Libreria del Littorio, (1929). Origins and Doctrine of Fascism , A. James Gregor , translator and editor, Transaction Publishers (2003) p. 31

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Giovanni Gentile on Knowledge

• Attributed to Giovanni Gentile:

  “Education is the formation of the act of thought itself.”

• “The Fascist, on the other hand, conceives philosophy as a philosophy of practice (”praxis”). That concept was the product of certain Marxist and Sorellian inspirations (many Fascists and the Duce , himself, received their first intellectual education in the school of Marx and Sorel)—as well as the influence of contemporary Italian idealistic doctrines from which Fascist mentality drew substance and achieved maturity.”

  The Philosophy of Fascism,” first published in English in the Spectator , November 1928, pp. 36-37. Reprinted in Origins and Doctrine of Fascism , A. James Gregor , translator and editor, Transaction Publishers (2003) p. 33

• “The Fascist, on the other hand, conceives philosophy as a philosophy of practice (”praxis”). That concept was the product of certain Marxist and Sorellian inspirations (many Fascists and the Duce , himself, received their first intellectual education in the school of Marx and Sorel)—as well as the influence of contemporary Italian idealistic doctrines from which Fascist mentality drew substance an”

  The Philosophy of Fascism,” first published in English in the Spectator , November 1928, pp. 36-37. Reprinted in Origins and Doctrine of Fascism , A. James Gregor , translator and editor, Transaction Publishers (2003) p. 33

• “It is necessary to distinguish between socialism and socialism—in fact, between idea and idea of the same socialist conception, in order to distinguish among them those that are inimical to Fascism. It is well known that Sorellian syndicalism , out of which the thought and the political method of Fascism emerged—conceived itself the genuine interpretation of Marxist communism. The dynamic concepti”

  Che cosa è il fascismo: Discorsi e polemiche (“What is Fascism?”), Florence: Vallecchi, (1925) pp. 42-45, 47-48, 49-51, 56, Origins and Doctrine of Fascism , A. James Gregor , translator and editor, Transaction Publishers, 2003, p. 59

• “Of which liberalism does one wish to speak? I distinguish two principal forms of liberalism . For one… liberty is a right; for the other a duty. For one it is a gift; for the other a conquest… One liberalism conceives liberty rooted in the individual, and therefore opposes the individual to the State, a State understood as possessing no intrinsic value—but exclusively serving the well being and th”

  Che cosa è il fascismo: Discorsi e polemiche (“What is Fascism?”), Florence: Vallecchi, (1925) pp. 42-45, 47-48, 49-51, 56, Origins and Doctrine of Fascism , A. James Gregor , translator and editor, Transaction Publishers, 2003, p. 63

• “Che cosa è il fascismo: Discorsi e polemiche (“What is Fascism?”), Florence: Vallecchi, (1925) pp. 13-16”

  In the Renaissance there is much light, yes, and there is much in it with which Italians may share national pride. But there is much darkness. For the Renaissance is also the age of individualism , that through the splendid visions of poetry and art brought the Italian nation to the indifference, skepticism, and distracted cynicism of those who have nothing to defend, not in their family, their Fa

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Giovanni Gentile on Mind

• Attributed to Giovanni Gentile:

  “The act of thinking is the only ultimate reality.”

• Attributed to Giovanni Gentile:

  “Reality is not given but made by the thinking spirit.”

• “Fascism as a consequence of its Marxian and Sorelian patrimony . . . conjoined with the influence of contemporary Italian idealism , through which Fascist thought attained maturity, conceives philosophy as praxis.”

  Origini e dottrina del fascismo , Rome (1929) p. 58, A. James Gregor , The Ideology of Fascism: The Rationale of Totalitarianism , New York: NY, The Free Press (1969) p. 317

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Giovanni Gentile on Nature

• “In the Renaissance there is much light, yes, and there is much in it with which Italians may share national pride. But there is much darkness. For the Renaissance is also the age of individualism , that through the splendid visions of poetry and art brought the Italian nation to the indifference, skepticism, and distracted cynicism of those who have nothing to defend, not in their family, their Fatherland, or in the world where every human personality conscious of its own value and personal dignity invest itself.”

  Che cosa è il fascismo: Discorsi e polemiche (“What is Fascism?”), Florence: Vallecchi, (1925) pp. 13-16

Giovanni Gentile on Politics

• Attributed to Giovanni Gentile:

  “The state is ethical when it expresses the moral will of its people.”

• “For Fascism ...the State and the individual are one, or better, perhaps, "State" and "individual" are terms that are inseparable in a necessary synthesis.”

  Origins and Doctrine of Fascism , trans. A. James Gregor , Transaction Publishers (2011), p. 25

Giovanni Gentile on Time

• Attributed to Giovanni Gentile:

  “Spirit knows no past or future, only the eternal present of action.”