Alain Quotes

In short, the anomaly of war is that the best men get themselves killed while crafty men find their chance to govern in a manner contrary to justice.

We are advised and led along by second-rate moralists who only know how to work themselves into a delirium and pass their illness onto others.

One must preach life, not death; spread hope, not fear and cultivate joy, man's most valuable treasure. That is the secret of the greatest of the wise, and it wil be the light of tomorrow. Passions are sad. Hatred is sad. Joy destroys passions and hatred. Let us begin by telling ourselves that sadness is never noble, beautiful or useful.

Ta không có chút quyền lực nào với sự giận dữ một khi ta chưa biết lí do đích thực của nó.

When people ask me if the division between parties of the right and parties of the left, men of the right and men of the left, still makes sense, the first thing that comes to mind is that the person asking the question is certainly not a man of the left.

In short, the important thing is to get started. No matter how; then there will be time to ask yourself where you are going.

Work is the best and worst of all things; the best of it is voluntary, the worst of it is servile.

Les mauvais médecins seraient donc ceux qu'on aime assez pour vouloir les intéresser à ses propres maux; et les bons médecins sont ceux au contraire qui vous demandent selon l'usage: “Comment allez-vous?” et qui n'écoutent pas la réponse.

An author of antiquity said that every event has two handles, and that, in order to carry it, there is no sense in choosing the one that hurts the hand.

Our errors perish before we do. Let's not mummify them and keep them around.

Humanity will have to extricate itself from the bags created by false moralists, according to whom we taste happiness and then pass judgment on it, as if it were a piece of fruit. But I maintain that even for a piece of fruit we can do something to help it taste good. This is even truer of marriage and every other human relationship; these things are not meant to be tasted or passively accepted; they must be made. A relationship is not like a bit of shade where one is comfortable or uncomfortable depending on the weather and the way the wind is blowing. On the contrary, it is a place of miracles, where the magician makes the rain and the good weather.

We must stand firm between two kinds of madness: the belief that we can do anything; and the belief that we can do nothing.

En réalité, les motifs qu'on a d'être heureux ou malheureux sont sans poids; tout dépend de notre corps.

It is very true that we ought to think of the happiness of others; but it is not often enough said that the best thing we can do for those who love us is to be happy ourselves.

En cualquier contrato y en cualquier intercambio, ponte en el lugar del otro, pero con todo lo que sabes, y suponiéndote tan libre de necesidades como un hombre puede serlo, mira si en lugar, aprobarías ese intercambio o contrato