Hitler's Table Talk

256 OPPORTUNITIES IN NATIONAL SOCIALIST STATE
prevent them from rising. If one systematically encourages the
selection of the fittest, the time will come when talents will
again be, in a sort of way, the privilege of an élite. I got this
impression especially strongly on the occasion of the launching
of the Tirpitz* The workers gathered for that ceremony gave an
extraordinary impression of nobility.
Evolution usually occurs in one direction—that is to say, in
the direction of the development of intellectuality. One has a
tendency to forget what the potential of energy to be found in
the people means for the nation's life. For the maintenance of
social order, it's important that room should be found not only
for the intellect but also for strength. Otherwise the day comes
when strength, having divorced the intellect, rebels against it
and crushes it. The duel between intellect and strength will
always be decided to the advantage of strength. A social class
made up solely of intellectuals feels a sort of bad conscience.
When a revolution occurs, this class is afraid to assert itself; it
sits on its sacks of coin; it plays the coward.
My own conscience is clean. If I am told that somewhere
there exists a young man who has talent, I myself will do what I
can for him. Nothing could be more agreeable to me than to be
told, when somebody is introduced to me: "Here's a man of
rare talent. Perhaps one day he'll be the Fuehrer of the nation."
Precisely because I favour a maximum of equity in the
established social order, for that very reason I feel myself entitled
to rage with pitiless severity against whoever might try to
undermine that order. The order I'm building must be solid
enough to withstand all trials, and that's why we shall drown
in blood any attempt to subvert that order. But in this National
Socialist society nothing will be left undone to find their proper
place for competence and talent. We really want every man to
have his chance. Let those who have an aptitude for commanding,
command, and let the others be the agents who carry
these commands out. It's important to appreciate, without
prejudice, everyone's aptitudes and faults—so that everyone
can occupy the place that suits him, for the greatest good of the
community.