Anatole France (1844-1924)

Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he does not wish to sign his work.

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

• The finest words in the world are only vain sounds if you cannot understand them.

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

• It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly.

• Nothing spoils a confession like repentance.

• 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.

• People who have no faults are terrible; there is no way to take advantage of them

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

• The impotence of God is infinite.

• It's not by amusing oneself that one learns.

• 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.

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

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