Anatole France - Quotes

Quotes

• "Some succeed because they are destined to; most succeed because they are determined to."
• "We do not know what to do with this short life, but we want another which will be eternal."
• "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich and the poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." (Le Lys Rouge)
• "If the path be beautiful, let us not question where it leads."
• "The history books which contain no lies are extremely tedious."
• "I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom."
• "A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance."
• "To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe."
• "Irony is the gaiety of reflection and the joy of wisdom."
• "Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe."
• "For every monarchy overthrown the sky becomes less brilliant, because it loses a star. A republic is ugliness set free."
• "She fought him off vigorously, scratched, cried that she will die before she submits, but the chevalier paid no attention to her words and took her. Afterwards, she smiled coyly and told him: "Do not think, dear chevalier, that you won me against my will. Better thank our good preacher who reminded me that we are mortal, and a pleasure missed today is missed forever. Now we can proceed, for I missed too many pleasures while being too prudent for my own good." (Fable by Anatole France.)
• "If 50 million people say a foolish thing, is it still a foolish thing?"
• "Nine tenths of education is encouragement."
• "All religions breed crime." (Thaïs)
• "The people who have no weaknesses are terrible: there is no way of taking advantage of them." (The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard)
• "It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion."
• "The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards."
• "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."
• "Stupidity is far more dangerous than evil, for evil takes a break from time to time, stupidity does not."
• "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."
• "We have never heard the devil's side of the story, God wrote all the book."
• "One must learn to think well before learning to think; afterward it proves too difficult."
• "An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't."
• "When a thing has been said and well said, have no scruple; take it and copy it."