Quotes from Anatole France

The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.

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

What men call civilization is the condition of present customs; what they call barbarism, the condition of past ones.

The faculty of doubting is rare among men. A few choice spirits carry the germs of it in them, but these do not develop without training.

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

An old philosopher said to Monsieur Coignard, a Reverend Father: 'You are a pig!' To which Abad Coignard answered: 'You flatter me, sir. But unfortunately, I'm only a man.'

I am a physician. I keep a drug-shop of lies. I give relief, consolation. Can one console and relieve without lying? ... Only women and doctors know how necessary and how helpful lies are to men.

Of all the sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest.

In art as in love, instinct is enough.

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!

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

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

An education isnt how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. Its being able to differentiate between what you know and what you dont.

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

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

We chase dreams and embrace shadows.

True education is the ability to discern the difference between what you do know and what you don't.

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

The heart errs like the head; its errors are not any the less fatal, and we have more trouble getting free of them because of their sweetness.

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.

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

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

It is not customary to love what one has.

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