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Extracts from the book Gloss by Dr. Pere Tarrés. Collection Els Daus 96. Clarete Publishing Company.
All three glosses were written between April 1932 and June 1936.
On youth organizations
"Usually, in our country, the number of organizations grows as fast as the mushrooms in the forest. Everybody acts and wants to do something, but according to their own ideas, without thinking for a moment in the consequences of their actions. People make up their minds fast, they try to undertake everything, announcing it amid a lot of hype, but very soon, their lack of conviction, of a deep spirituality, the real promoter of all actions, the lack of a goal on both the side of leaders and subordinates, makes that what had begun flat out came to nothing quickly and it ends up in smoke".
"Our public actions should be preceded by an inner and steady preparation".
On the groups' life
"Any human activity, whatever could be, should rest on two essential grounds/foundations: perseverance and perfection or a progressive improvement of those acts or disciplines that we impose to ourselves".
On factions and individualism
"Our land, as we all know, has always been a land of individualism. All Catalans take inherent to our be an extraordinary spirit of defending only their group's own ideas (...) our people really deserve that saying that goes "man is the only animal that stumbles twice in the same place". We have seen many times that factions and individualism have ruined wonderful organizations; we know that in politics as in every discipline, the spirit of individualism leads to the disintegration and collapse of all kind of ideals".
On leadership
"On all fronts of life, it has always been recognized the technical or scientific superiority of those individuals who have achieved a dignity within the collectives they belonged to. And it is interesting to remark that, their reliability is not only connected with their expertise and professionalism. They manage to win the respect and admiration of their peers, influencing the spirit of people surrounding them, and having a hand in matters that have nothing to do with the job or profession they do".
On enthusiasm
"Enthusiasm is the essential quality in every organization that aspires to the conquest of the masses. It is an unavoidable factor when talking about youth organizations. Everyone, whatever they do, when carried away by enthusiasm, achieves a more intense, impressive, and worthier result from his work. Enthusiasm is life, is love, is courage, is talent, it is, in a word, creative power. It is in every soul that is passionately devoted to an ideal under the control of the reason
On the pedagogy of the example
"If words do not go followed by actions, they are like the sound of the bells run away with the wind. If our life and our actions, are not according to the ideas we defend, it is in vain working and fighting in defence of the highest ideals. It is time for reality and not for empty words. It is time to decide. We cannot accept half measures".
On sacrifice
"Sacrifice is a powerful weapon. For a lot of people the idea of sacrifice is associated to something serious, painful, bloody, something they think impossible to carry out. (...) Don't you see how man seeks for comfort, how he avoids the lightest nuisance, how he gets annoyed with the smallest trouble? How many times smiling to an unfriendly person or undergoing a humiliation with joy, are worth the conquest of a soul that would not have been produced a piece from brilliant oratory crested of deserved applauses".
On the economic management of young groups
(...) "time for growing; time for organization; extra charges; months fly, bills pile up and the members of groups and organizations were little used to paying any contributions; In this world everything is to be learned, and the economic organization of a group needs to be studied carefully, since it represents one of the main pieces that make its engine work".
On work atmosphere
"Workers can be classified into two categories: those who act of their own free will, moved by an irresistible force that they feel in their hearts, by a generous love of a certain task, by the passion for work, for study, for science, for action, in a word; and these men, in exiguous minority, are the ones who become geniuses; and on the other category stand those men impelled and stimulated by the work and the success of the pioneers in founding a school, a science or an organization, creators, anyway, of an atmosphere that raises awareness and discovers unknown values that in the dullness of an ordinary life would have never emerged.
And it is plain to see on all fronts of life. In a scientific ambient, one's work stimulates the other, studies and discoveries of any kind, create a halo, a name, an atmosphere around this and that institution that attracts towards it other elements that, just for becoming a member, enjoy a excellent condition to imitate leaders in the study of this or that subject. And this may happen in an industrial or commercial centre; when facinga certain political ideology or not; when facing everything that goes beyond social life".
On suffering
"Loving is the greatest gift that man can receive; to be loved is his highest desire, and we never need it as much as when we are overwhelmed by sorrow. What neither the medicines nor the most powerful treatments can do, it's achieved by a kind word, a gentle smile, an affectionate gesture".
