Quotes from Anatole France

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

I am crazy, I know, Thérèse. But who is not?

To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything. Nothing exists except that which is imagined.

They did not understand that war, which trained courage and founded the cities of barbarous and ignorant men, brings to victor himself but ruin and misery, and is nothing but a horrible and stupid crime when nations are united together by common bonds of art, science, and trade.

MeilÄ—s kaltÄ—s bus atleistos, nes tyroj meilÄ—j nÄ—ra nieko pikta. Bet jausmingoj meilÄ—j yra tiek pat neapykantos, egoizmo ir apmaudo, kiek ir meilÄ—s.

He left Penguinia impoverished and depopulated. The flower of the insula perished in his wars. At the time of his fall there were left in our country none but the hunchbacks and cripples from whom we are descended. But he gave us glory." "He made you pay dearly for it!" "Glory never costs too much," replied my guide.

When it does not yield to the rudder," said he to them, "the ship yields to the rock.

The Christian state," said St. Cornelius, "is not without serious inconveniences for a penguin. In it the birds are obliged to work out their own salvation. How can they succeed? The habits of birds are, in many points, contrary to the commandments of the Church, and the penguins have no reason for changing theirs. I mean that they are not intelligent enough to give up their present habits and assume better.

I see only one solution," said St. Augustine. "The penguins will go to hell." "But they have no soul," observed St. Irenaeus. "It is a pity"" sighed Tertullian.

Take care, father," said Bulloch gently, "that what you call murder and robbery may not really be war and conquest, those sacred foundations of empires, those sources of all human virtues and all human greatness.

For all armies are the finest in the world. The second finest army, if one could exist, would be in a notoriously inferior position; it would be certain to be beaten. It ought to be disbanded at once. Therefore, all armies are the finest in the world.

Man is a rational animal. He can think up a reason for anything he wants to believe.

Signori, i pinguini sono malcontenti del nuovo regime, perché, anche se ne traggono profitto, è naturale per gli uomini lamentarsi della propria condizione.

Les plus beaux livres sont ceux qui n'ont jamais été écrits.

all ought to be common among friends.

His face wore a strange look of peacefulness; in the temple was a little hole, barely visible; blood and mire fouled the pretty hair a mother had kissed with such transports of fondness.

What a lot of books!" she screamed. "And have you really read them all, Monsieur Bonnard?" "Alas! I have," I replied, "and that is just the reason that I do not know anything; for there is not a single one of those books which does not contradict some other book; so that by the time one has read them all one does not know what to think about anything. That is just my condition, Madame.

Creíase bienquisto entre los congregados habituales de Valcombe, y no erraba del todo al suponerlo.

I morti non hanno altra vita all'infuori di quella che i vivi attribuiscono loro»

Eu já não encontro tanto prazer, confesso, em ver essa gente elegante, depois que uma máquina pôs em movimento o fanatismo estúpido e a obtusa crueldade desses pequenos cérebros.

Gracious goodness! Your guardian seems to me to be a thorough scoundrel." "Then you know—" "What?" "Oh! don't ask me to tell you that! — but I would rather die than find myself alone with him again.

Es de lo que más adolece nuestro pueblo -dijo ella-: no piensa. Y añadió al cabo de unos instantes: -Pero ¿en qué podrían ejecutar su agudeza las inteligencias que viven en un país donde el clima es templado y la existencia fácil? Incluso aquí, donde la necesidad apremia a los espíritus, nada es tan raro como un ser que piensa.

Kobieta jest szczera wtedy, gdy nie k?amie bezu?ytecznie.

Os povos civilizados são como os cães de caça. Um instinto corrupto os incita a destruir sem proveito nem razão.