Henri Bergson Quotes

What makes hope such an intense pleasure is the fact that the future, which we dispose of to our liking, appears to us at the same time under a multitude of forms, equally attractive and equally possible. Even if the most coveted of these becomes realized, it will be necessary to give up the others, and we shall have lost a great deal.

The idea of the future, pregnant with an infinity of possibilities, is thus more fruitful than the future itself, and this is why we find more charm in hope than in possession, in dreams than in reality.

Toute notre civilisation est aphrodisiaque

The theory of knowledge is inseparable from the theory of life. They must unite so that each may move the other forward.

"Il n'y a pas de comique en dehors de ce qui est proprement humain. Un paysage pourra être beau, gracieux, sublime, insignifiant ou laid ; il ne sera jamais risible. On rira d'un animal, mais parce qu'on aura surpris chez lui une attitude d'homme ou une expression humaine. On rira d'un chapeau; mais ce qu'on raille alors, ce n'est pas le morceau de feutre ou de paille, c'est la forme que les hommes lui ont donnée, c'est le caprice humain dont il a pris le moule. Comment un fait aussi important, dans sa simplicité, n'a-t-il pas fixé davantage l'attention des philosophes? Plusieurs ont défini l'homme "un animal qui sait rire". Ils auraient aussi bien pu le définir un animal qui fait rire, car si quelque autre animal y parvient, ou quelque objet inanimé, c'est par une ressemblance avec l'homme, par la marque que l'homme y imprime ou par l'usage que l'homme en fait."

"Certo filósofo contemporâneo, emérito argumentador, a quem se observou que os seus raciocínios irrepreensivelmente deduzidos eram contrariados pela experiência, encerrou a discussão com esta singela observação: "A experiência está errada." A idéia de regulamentar administrativamente a vida é mais difundida do que se pensa; é natural a seu modo, embora acabemos de obtê-la mediante um processo de recomposição. Poderíamos dizer que ela nos oferece a própria quintessência do pedantismo, o qual não passa, no fundo, da arte pretendendo superpor-se à natureza."

Lidský intelekt, tak, jak si jej my představujeme, není nikterak onen, který nám líčil Platón v alegorii o jeskyni. Není právě tak jeho úlohou, aby pozoroval jak míjejí prázdné stíny, jako aby zřel, ohlížeje se za sebe, hvězdu zrak oslňující. Má dělati něco jiného. Zapřaženi jako voli oráčovi do těžké práce, cítíme hru svých svalů a kloubů, tíhu pluhu a odpor půdy: jednati a věděti o sobě, že jednáme, vstupovati ve styk se skutečností a dokonce ji žíti, avšak jen v mezích jejího významu pro dílo, které se dokonává, a pro brázdu, která se táhne, takový jest úkol lidského intelektu. A přece koupeme se v blahodárném fluidu, z něhož čerpáme samu sílu k práci a životu. Z tohoto oceánu života, do něhož jsme ponořeni, vdechujeme ustavičně něco a cítíme, že naše bytost, nebo alespoň intelekt, který ji vede, vytvořil se tu jakýmsi místním ztužením. Filosofie může být jen úsilím, jak znovu rozplynouti se v celku. A intelekt, resorbuje-li se ve svém principu, prožije zas naruby svou vlastní genesi. Avšak takový podnik nebude již moci dovršiti se na ráz; bude nutně hromadný a postupný. Bude záležeti na výměně dojmů, které opravujíce se vzájemně a též na sebe se kladouce, posléze rozšíří v nás lidství a dosáhnou toho, že půjde nad sebe samo.

The remembrance of forbidden fruit is the earliest thing in the memory of each of us, as it is in that of mankind.

Pelo temor que o riso inspira, reprime as excentricidades, mantém constantemente despertas e em contato mútuo certas atividades de ordem acessória que correriam o risco de isolar-se e adormecer; suaviza, enfim, tudo o que puder restar de rigidez mecânica na superfície do corpo social.

We say “universe” and the word makes us think of a possible unification of things. One can be a spiritualist, a materialist, a pantheist, just as one can be indifferent to philosophy and satisfied with common sense: the fact remains that one always conceives of one or several simple principles by which the whole of material and moral things might be explained. This is because our intelligence loves simplicity. It seeks to reduce effort, and insists that nature was arranged in such a way as to demand of us, in order to be thought, the least possible labor. It therefore provides itself with the exact minimum of elements and principles with which to recompose the indefinite series of objects and events. But if instead of reconstructing things ideally for the greater satisfaction of our reason we confine ourselves purely and simply to what is given us by experience, we should think and express ourselves in quite another way. While our intelligence with its habits of economy imagines effects as strictly proportioned to their causes, nature, in its extravagance, puts into the cause much more than is required to produce the effect. While our motto is Exactly what is necessary, nature’s motto is More than is necessary, — too much of this, too much of that, too much of everything. Reality, as James sees it, is redundant and superabundant. Between this reality and the one constructed by the philosophers, I believe he would have established the same relation as between the life we live every day and the life which actors portray in the evening on the stage. On the stage, each actor says and does only what has to be said and done; the scenes are clear-cut; the play has a beginning, a middle and an end; and everything is worked out as economically as possible with a view to an ending which will be happy or tragic. But in life, a multitude of useless things are said, many superfluous gestures made, there are no sharply-drawn situations; nothing happens as simply or as completely

Pour un être conscient, exister consiste à changer, changer à se mûrir, se mûrir à se créer indéfiniment soi-même.

Il suffit que nous bouchions nos oreilles au son de la musique, dans un salon où l'on danse, pour que les danseurs nous paraissent aussitôt ridicules. Combien d'actions humaines résisteraient à une épreuve de ce genre?

"psychical life is neither unity nor multiplicity, that it transcends both the mechanical and the intellectual, mechanism and finalism having meaning only where there is "distinct multiplicity," "spatiality," and consequently assemblage of pre-existing parts: "real duration" signifies both undivided continuity and creation."

All the living hold together, and all yield to the same tremendous push. The animal takes its stand on the plant, man bestrides animality, and the whole of humanity, in space and in time, is one immense army galloping beside and before and behind each of us in an overwhelming charge able to beat down every resistance and clear the most formidable obstacles, perhaps even death.

Je dirais qu'il faut agir en homme de pensée et penser en homme d'action.

You have sought the meaning of a poem in the form of the letters which make it up, you have thought that in considering an increasing number of letters you would finally embrace the constantly fleeting meaning, and as a last resource, seeing that it was no use to seek a part of the meaning in each letter, you have assumed that between each letter and the one following was lodged the missing fragment of the mysterious meaning! But the letters, once more, are not parts of the thing, they are the elements of the symbol. The positions of the mobile are not parts of the movement: they are points of the space which is thought to subtend the movement. This empty and immobile space, simply conceived, never perceived, has exactly the value of a symbol. By manipulating symbols, how are you going to manufacture reality?