“We play a role that has no end, in a game that ends too soon.”

Henri Massis (1886-1970)
Literary critic, political essayist, and literary historian

“He was a man of the salons, certainly, but even more so a man of intimate discussions, a dazzling conversationalist, shaping his propositions like diamonds, and as curious about the details of things as about their substance. He was open to all that is young, by age or at heart – young himself despite his years and hardships, having the spontaneity and repartees of a student, and mixing just enough ash with his fire to smother illusion without diminishing enthusiasm. Everything in him called for direct and lively exchange. You would have to have heard him, or chat with a factory worker or farmer, putting the meditations of intelligence up against the elementary intelligence of the meek in order to have a good idea of what he was… (…) But it is in friendship – with all its richness of fervor, transparence, and virile abandon – that his heart and his soul flourished. (…) The fact that the fierce battle of ideas had separated him from certain fellow combatants who changed sides, was without a doubt the most difficult trial reserved by destiny for this man for whom fidelity of mind took precedence over fidelity of heart, even if it did not abolish it. However, the deep wound that these separations carved in his heart bear witness to the fact that he never really separated himself from those who abandoned or rejected him. To suffer from the loss of something is to possess it still. I used the word “fidelity” – perhaps, after all, it is the best word to describe such a passionate nature. Fidelity to ideas and fidelity to the men who incarnate those ideas: Massis paid dearly for this rare and formidable privilege. A witness to the eternal, Massis never stopped fighting against the continuous tide of ephemeral idol-worshipers; it is in this respect that we ought to honor Massis as one of those elect souls who are born, as Shakespeare says, “to set (things) right.”

Gustave Thibon (1903-2001)
Philosopher