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Quotes by Anatole France

French novelist (1844 - 1924)

When a thing has been said and well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.

The average man, who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever.

To be willing to die for an idea is to set a rather high price on conjecture.

A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.

It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly.

Nothing spoils a confession like repentance.

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.

People who have no faults are terrible; there is no way to take advantage of them

The average man does not know what to do with his life, yet wants another one which will last forever.

The impotence of God is infinite.

It is by acts and not by ideas that people live.

It's not by amusing oneself that one learns.

To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.

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.

To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.

Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.

People who have no weaknesses are terrible; there is no way of taking advantage of them.

The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.

It is better to understand little than to misunderstand a lot.

Existence would be intolerable if we were never to dream.

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.

Never lend books - nobody ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are those which people have lent me.

To die for an idea is to place a pretty high price upon conjectures.

If a million people say a foolish thing, is it still a foolish thing.

When a thing has been said, and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.

...it is not by reflection and intelligence, but by perception, that the highest and purest truths are attained.

The people who have no weakness are terrible; there is no way of taking advantage of them.

He who lives little, changes little.

Who ever enters here, honors me; who ever does not-- pleases me.

Be gentle and learn how to suffer. When one suffers patiently, one suffers less.

No one gives as much as he who gives hope.

. . .everyone took an interest in the conversation, for each one was interested in what he or she said.

Our pains are no excuse for slandering the world.

Ignorance is a necessary condition of human happiness, and it must be owned that in most cases we fulfill it well. We know almost nothing about ourselves; absolutely nothing about our neighbors. Ignorance constitutes our peace of mind; self- deception our felicity.

I love reason, but I am no fanatic in my love. Reason is our guide and beacon-light; but when you have made a divinity of it, it will blind you and instigate you to crime.

Innocence more often than not is a piece of good fortune rather than a virtue.

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

Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he does not wish to sign his work.

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.

The finest words in the world are only vain sounds if you cannot understand them.