Anatole France Quotes

Each one dreams the dream of life in his own way. I have dreamed it in my library; and when the hour...

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 b...

It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on walks.

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

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

What we call happiness is what we do not know.

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

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

The future is hidden even from those who make it.

Lovers who love truly do not write down their happiness.

Never lend books - nobody ever returns them the only books I have in my library are those which peo...

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

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

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind usis a part o...

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

And the thing has been said and said well have no scruple. Take it and copy it.

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

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

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

Our passions are ourselves.

If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.

Nature teaches us to devour each other and gives us the example of all the crimes and all the vices ...

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just...

It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel. -Anatole France, novelist, ess...

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

A writer is rarely so well inspired as when he talks about himself.

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

Suffering! ... We owe to it all that is good in us all that gives value to life we owe to it pity ...

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

We have never heard the devil's side of the story, God wrote all the book.

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

The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of the mind for the pur...

All changes even the most longed for have their melancholy for what we leave behind us is apart o...

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

The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges to b...

No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free, no one ever will. Chance is ...

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

The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the ...

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

The mania of thinking renders one unfit for every activity.

All writers of confessions from Augustine on down, have always remained a little in love with their ...

In art as in love, instinct is enough.

Dictionary: The universe in alphabetical order.

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

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

The books that everybody admires are those that nobody reads.

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

The history books which contain no lies are extremely tedious

Time deals gently only with those who take it gently.

It is possible that these millions of suns, along with thousands of millions more we cannot see, mak...

Suffering — how divine it is, how misunderstood! We owe to it all that is good in us, all that gives...

Ignorance is the necessary condition, i do not say of happiness, but of life itself. If we knew ever...

For the majority of people, though they do not know what to do with this life, long for another that...

I sought out the laws which govern nature, solid or ethereal, and after much pondering I perceived t...

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

I do not know any reading more easy more fascinating more delightful than a catalogue.

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

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

An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able...

Simple style is like white light. It is complex but its complexity is not obvious.

What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by c...

It is not customary to love what one has.

Lack of understanding is a great power. Sometimes it enables men to conquer the world.

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

One must never lose time in vainly regretting the past or in complaining against the changes which c...

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

All changes even the most longed for have their melancholy for what we leave behind us is a part ...

What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by c...

We chase dreams and embrace shadows.

In art as in love, instinct is enough.

Only men who are not interested in women are interested in women's clothes. Men who like women never...

Of all sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest.

The poor have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the rich as w...

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part ...

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

It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel.

I never go into the country for a change of air and a holiday. I always go instead into the eighteen...