"Even if you're not going anywhere, don't get in the way"
About this Quote
Bergamin’s line is a small, sharp blade aimed at a very specific kind of vanity: the belief that standing still is a position worth defending. “Even if you’re not going anywhere” strips away heroic self-mythology. It admits inertia, confusion, fear, fatigue, all the reasons a person (or institution) might pause. But it refuses to let that pause become sabotage. The second clause, “don’t get in the way,” turns stasis into an ethical test: if you can’t contribute momentum, at least don’t convert your reluctance into an obstacle for people who can.
The intent is disciplinary, but not purely scolding. It’s also a compact argument against gatekeeping. The “not going anywhere” person isn’t only the lazy bystander; it’s the jealous colleague, the cautious editor, the bureaucrat, the older generation insisting on “how things are done.” Bergamin suggests that obstruction often comes disguised as prudence. It’s easy to call yourself a realist when what you’re really doing is protecting your comfort from someone else’s change.
Context matters because Bergamin (often spelled Jose Bergamin), writing out of Spain’s convulsive 20th century, knew how quickly “order” becomes a moral alibi. In a country where neutrality and “staying out of it” could still feed the machinery of repression, non-movement wasn’t innocent. The line’s cynicism is pragmatic: history advances with or without you; the only question is whether you’ll be a speed bump.
The intent is disciplinary, but not purely scolding. It’s also a compact argument against gatekeeping. The “not going anywhere” person isn’t only the lazy bystander; it’s the jealous colleague, the cautious editor, the bureaucrat, the older generation insisting on “how things are done.” Bergamin suggests that obstruction often comes disguised as prudence. It’s easy to call yourself a realist when what you’re really doing is protecting your comfort from someone else’s change.
Context matters because Bergamin (often spelled Jose Bergamin), writing out of Spain’s convulsive 20th century, knew how quickly “order” becomes a moral alibi. In a country where neutrality and “staying out of it” could still feed the machinery of repression, non-movement wasn’t innocent. The line’s cynicism is pragmatic: history advances with or without you; the only question is whether you’ll be a speed bump.
Quote Details
| Topic | Respect |
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