Quotes By Anatole France

History books that contain no lies are extremely dull.

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

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

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

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

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

The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

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

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

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

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

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

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.