Anatole France Quotes
Anatole France was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was born 16th April, 1844 in Paris, France. He died on the 12th of October 1924, in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, France.
In this article, you will find insightful quotes by Anatole France.
55 Inspirational Anatole France Quotes
Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.
We have never heard the devil’s side of the story, God wrote all the book.
The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of the mind for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.
Time deals gently only with those who take it gently.
The average man, who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever.
Awaken people’s curiosity. It is enough to open minds, do not overload them. Put there just a spark.
Armenia is dying, but it will survive. The little blood that is left is precious blood that will give birth to a heroic generation. A nation that does not want to die, does not die. April 9, 1916 Sorbonne
It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on walks.
All changes, even the most longed for, must have their melancholy
It is not customary to love what one has
Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.
If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.
To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan, but also believe!
It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion.
The books that everybody admires are those that nobody reads.
It is by acts and not by ideas that people live.
Suffering — how divine it is, how misunderstood! We owe to it all that is good in us, all that gives value to life; we owe to it pity, we owe to it courage, we owe to it all the virtues.
Within every one of us there lives both a Don Quixote and a Sancho Panza to whom we hearken by turns; and though Sancho most persuades us, it is Don Quixote that we find ourselves obliged to admire…
..the adventure of the soul among the masterpieces.
It is good to collect things, it is better to take walks.
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.
In art as in love, instinct is enough.
Stupidity is far more dangerous than evil, for evil takes a break from time to time, stupidity does not.
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
If 50 million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
All the good writers of confessions, from Augustine onwards, are men who are still a little in love with their sins.
The wonder is, not that the field of stars is so vast, but that man has measured it.
We do not know what to do with this short life, yet we yearn for another that will be eternal.
I never go into the country for a change of air and a holiday. I always go instead into the eighteenth century.
We do not know what to do with this short life, yet we want another which will be eternal.
There are forces, Lucius, infinitely more powerful than reason and science.” ” What are they?” asked Cotta. “Ignorance and folly,” replied Aristaeus.
To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel.
If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.
Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.
Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.
Without lies, humanity would perish of despair and boredom
It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel. -Anatole France
Determination. To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream. Not only plan, but also believe.
Ah! Yes, the truth, that ingenious concoction of desirability of appearance.
If you have not loved an animal, your soul remains unawakened.
For the majority of people, though they do not know what to do with this life, long for another that shall have no end.
In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.
To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything.
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
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 said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.
A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.
People who have no weaknesses are terrible; there is no way of taking advantage of them.
What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance?
Great courage was required to engage in such an adventure. But George was in love and Freeheart was faithful. And as the most delightful of poets says “What cannot Friendship guided by sweet Love?
All writers of confessions from Augustine on down, have always remained a little in love with their sins.
I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom.
To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.