Romain Rolland Quotes

If a man is to shed the light of the sun upon other men, he must first of all have it within himself.

His loyal and eager nature, brought for the first time to the test of love, gave itself utterly, and demanded a gift as utter without the reservation of one particle of the heart. He admitted no sharing in friendship. Being ready to sacrifice all for his friend, he thought it right and even necessary that his friend should wholly sacrifice himself and everything for him. But he was beginning to feel that the world was not built on the model of his own inflexible character, and that he was asking things which others could not give.

Christophe fancied that on the day of the Creation the Great Sculptor did not take very much trouble to put in order the scattered members of his rough-hewn creatures, and that He had adjusted them anyhow without bothering to find out whether they were suited to each other, and so every one was made up of all sorts of pieces; and one man was scattered among five or six different men; his brain was with one, his heart with another, and the body belonging to his soul with yet another; the instrument was on one side, the performer on the other. Certain creatures remained like wonderful violins, forever shut up in their cases, for want of anyone with the art to play them.

I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in it even more so.

Skepticism, riddling the faith of yesterday, prepared the way for the faith of tomorrow.

در مقابل روزی که بر می‌آید پرهیزگار باش. به آن‌چه در یک سال یا ده سال دیگر پیش خواهد آمد فکر نکن. در فکر امروز باش. اصول نظری خود را کنار بگذار. می‌بینی - همه ی اصول نظری، حتی اصول فضیلت، بد است، احمقانه است، زیان‌بخش است. بر زندگی زور روا مدار. همین امروز را زندگی کن. در مقابل هر روز پرهیزگار باش. دوستش بدار، احترامش را نگه‌دار، به‌خصوص پژمرده‌اش نساز، مانع شکفتن آن نشو. حتی اگر مثل امروز تیره‌رنگ و غم‌آلود باشد، دوستش بدار.

But perhaps there are in us forces other than mind and heart, other even than the senses - mysterious forces which take hold of us in the moments when the others are asleep; and perhaps it was such forces that Melchior had found in the depths of those pale eyes which had looked at him so timidly one evening when he had accosted the girl on the bank of the river, and had sat down beside her in the reeds - without knowing why - and had given her his hand.

All these young millionaires were anarchists, of course: when a man possesses everything it is the supreme luxury for him to deny society: for in that way he can evade his responsibilities

بدون حضور او چه‌قدر شکسپیر، چه‌قدر بتهوون میان‌تهی بود!… بله، بی‌شک این‌همه زیبا بود… ولی او دیگر آن‌جا نبود! دیدن چیزهای زیبا، اگر از دریچه‌ی چشم کسی که دوست داریم نباشد، به چه کار می‌آید؟ چه زیبایی، و حتی چه شادی، اگر نتوانیم از آن‌همه در قلب دوست برخوردار گردیم؟

مهما كان الألم الذي يفجع به الإنسان وهو في مقتبل عمره في عزيز لديه ، فإن ذلك يكون أخف وقعا على النفس مما لوحدث في سن متأخرة بعد أن تكون الحياة قد نضب معينها

Es sind die vorgefaßten Meinungen, die es den Völkern so schwer machen, einander zu verstehen, und die es ihnen so leicht machen, einander zu verachten.

با چشمان پر از اشک زمین وطن را که می‌بایست بدرود گوید می‌دید که در میان مه محو می‌شد…مگر نه او خود در آرزوی ترک آن بود؟ - بله؛ ولی اینک که آن را به‌راستی ترک می‌گفت، احساس دلهره می‌کرد. تنها قلب دام و دد می‌تواند بدون احساس تاثر از سرزمین مادری جدا شود. خوش‌بخت یا بدبخت، با هم زندگی کرده‌اند؛ شخص در میان او، روی او خوابیده‌است، سراپایش بدان آغشته است؛ وطن گنجینه‌ی رویاهای ما، زندگی گذشته‌ی ما، و خاکستر مقدس کسانی‌ست که دوست داشته‌ایم در سینه‌ی خود حفظ می‌کند.

پس از ده سال تنهائی، اعصابش تمددی می‌یافت. این نامه برای قلبش که تشنه‌ی محبت بود مژده‌ی رستاخیز می‌آورد. محبت! .. گمان می‌کرد که دیگر از آن دست شسته‌ است؛ و ناچار یاد گرفته‌ بود که از آن چشم بپوشد! اما امروز حس می‌کرد چه‌قدر بدان نیاز داشت، و چه مایه عشق در وجودش انباشته شده‌بود.

Never do I hesitate to look squarely at the unexpected face that every passing hour unveils to us, and to sacrifice the false images of it formed in advance, however dear they may be. In me, the love of life in general predominates over love of my own life (that, indeed, would never have sufficed to bear me up). May life herself speak! However inadequate I may be in listening to her, and in repeating her words, I shall try to record them, even if they contradict my most secret desires. In all that I write, may her will, not mine, be done!

If there is one place on the face of the earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India. … For more than 30 centuries, the tree of vision, with all its thousand branches and their millions of twigs, has sprung from this torrid land, the burning womb of the Gods. It renews itself tirelessly showing no signs of decay.