Anatole France

Irony is the gaiety of reflection and the joy of wisdom.

It is only the poor who pay cash, and that not from virtue, but because they are refused credit.

A tale without love is like beef without mustard insipid.

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

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened

Nature has no principles. She makes no distinction between good and evil.

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

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 into another.

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 human nature to think wisely and act foolishly.

Existence would be intolerable if we were never to dream.

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

The whole art of teaching is the only art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards and curiosity itself can be vivid and wholesome only in proportion as the mind is contented and happy

Ignorance and error are necessary to life, like bread and water.

Innocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue.

Devout believers are safeguarded in a high degree against the risk of certain neurotic illnesses; their acceptance of the universal neurosis spares them the task of constructing a personal one.

An education which does not cultivate the will is an education that depraves the mind.

I cling to my imperfection as the very essence of my being.

It is remarkable how great an influence our clothes have on our moral state.

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

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

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

That man is prudent who neither hopes nor fears anything from the uncertain events of the future.

If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.

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

One must never lose time in vainly regretting the past or in complaining against the changes which cause us discomfort, for change is the essence of life.

Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign.

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

Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have left me.

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

The future is hidden even from those who make it.

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.

Nature in her indifference makes no distinction between good and evil.

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

There are very honest people who do not think that they have had a bargain unless they have cheated a merchant.

History books that contain no lies are extremely dull.

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

I thank fate for having made me born poor. Poverty taught me the true value of the gifts useful to life.

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

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

We do not know what to do with this short life, yet we want another which will be eternal.

I cling to my imperfection, as the very essence of my being.

If we dont change we dont grow. If we dont grow we arent really living.

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 know and what you don't.

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 into another.

Wandering re establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.

Religion has done love a great service by making it a sin.

No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free, no one ever will. Chance is the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign.

Of all the sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest.

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.

Unhappiness does make people look stupid.

Justice is the means by which established injustices are sanctioned.

In art as in love, instinct is enough.

The poor have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

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

It's not by amusing oneself that one learns.

Only men who are not interested in women are interested in women's clothes. Men who like women never notice what they wear.

Lovers who love truly do not write down their happiness.

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

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving.

What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance, when all the skill of art is not able to make an oyster!

War will disappear only when men shall take no part whatever in violence and shall be ready to suffer every persecution that their abstention will bring them. It is the only way to abolish war.

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.

Silence is the wit of fools.

Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.

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

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.

The duty of literature is to note what counts, and to light up what is suited to the light. If it ceases to choose and to love, it becomes like a woman who gives herself without preference.

The Kingdom of Heaven is a military autocracy and there is no public opinion in it.

The truth is that life is delicious, horrible, charming, frightful, sweet, bitter, and that is everything.

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

Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.

The books that everybody admires are those that nobody reads.

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.

What frightens us most in a madman is his sane conversation.

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.

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

We reproach people for talking about themselves; but it is the subject they treat best.

It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion.

Suffering! We owe to it all that is good in us, all that gives value to life; we owe to it pity, we owe to it courage, we owe to it all the virtues.

One thing above all gives charm to men's thoughts, and this is unrest. A mind that is not uneasy irritates and bores me.

The good critic is he who relates the adventures of his soul among masterpieces.

For every monarchy overthrown the sky becomes less brilliant, because it loses a star. A republic is ugliness set free.

I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom.

The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.

We chase dreams and embrace shadows.

Of all the ways of defining man, the worst is the one which makes him out to be a rational animal.