Max Nordau

“A people that has been robbed of its land, its state, its language, that has been torn from all natural connections, cannot have a normal spiritual life.”

“The ruling classes have given up their belief in their own right to rule.”

“We want to create a new Jewry, a muscular Jewry.”

“Zionism is a homecoming.”

“One of the most morbid symptoms of the present time is the tide of pessimism which is rising everywhere.”

“The Jew has been the barometer of European civilization.”

“The imbecile, the ego-maniac, the echolalic, form the majority of the mystics.”

“Let us once more become a people of deeds.”

“Degenerates are not always criminals, prostitutes, anarchists, and pronounced lunatics; they are often authors and artists.”

“The 'fin-de-siècle' state of mind is a practical abandonment of the belief in the regular order of the universe.”

“Mysticism is the expression of a state of mind in which feeling is exalted at the expense of reason.”

“Zionism wishes to be not merely a political movement, but a cultural one.”

“The person who does not look forward with the expectation of the good is a sick person.”

“The modern man... is nervous, weary, and irritable.”

“The purpose of all art is to please, and nothing more.”