Anatole France Quotes

In every household the Revolution had emptied the cooking-pot.

II n'y a que les pauvres gens qui payent comptant. Ce n'est pas par vertu; c'est parce qu'on ne leur fait pas crédit.

If it were absolutely necessary to choose, I would rather be guilty of an immoral act than of a cruel one.

It is well for the heart to be naive and for the mind not to be.

Só dá verdadeiramente quem dá o próprio trabalho, a própria alma, o próprio gênio. E a excelsa oferenda de si mesmo a toda a humanidade tanto enriquece o doador quanto a comunidade.

اراده باعث تکوین و آفرینش دنیا بوده است ولی این آرزو است که مانع در هم ریختن آن می‌شود.

Le bon critique est celui qui raconte les aventures de son âme au milieu des chefs-d'œuvre.

آدمیان همیشه شرور بودند و از آزار دادن به همنوع خود پیوسته لذت برده‌اند ولی اقلاً در ادوار قدیم شکنجه برای تسکین حس کینه‌جویی و انتقام معمول بوده ولی امروزه برای به کرسی نشاندن عقاید خود به مردم زجر می‌دهند.

To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything.

The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.
ربما يكون الفضول هو اعظم فضائل البشر

In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges...

Zita told him of the black standards assembled in crowds in all the waste places of the globe; of the deliverance premeditated and prepared in the provinces of Heaven, where the first revolt had long ago been fomented. "Prince," she went on, "your army awaits you. Come, lead it on to victory.""Friends," replied the great archangel, "I was aware of the object of your visit. Baskets of fruit and honeycombs await you under the shade of this mighty tree. The sun is about to descend into the roseate waters of the Sacred River. When you have eaten, you will slumber pleasantly in this garden, where the joys of the intellect and of the senses have reigned since the day when I drove hence the spirit of the old Demiurge. To-morrow I will give you my answer."

Penguinia gloried in its wealth. Those who produced the things necessary for life, wanted them; those who did not produce them had more than enough. "But these," as a member of the Institute said, "are necessary economic fatalities." The great Penguin people had no longer either traditions, intellectual culture, or arts. The progress of civilisation manifested itself among them by murderous industry, infamous speculation, and hideous luxury. Its capital assumed, as did all the great cities of the time, a cosmopolitan and financial character. An immense and regular ugliness reigned within it. The country enjoyed perfect tranquillity. It had reached its zenith.

think Him limited, even very limited. I no longer believe Him to be the only God. For a long time He did not believe it Himself; in the beginning He was a polytheist; later, His pride and the flattery of His worshippers made Him a monotheist. His ideas have little connection; He is less powerful than He is thought to be. And, to speak candidly, He is not so much a god as a vain and ignorant demiurge.

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.