Ernest Renan

The oblivion, and I'll say even the historical error, are a key factor in the creation of a nation, to the extent that the progress of historical studies is often a danger to nationality.

Read quote

The oblivion, and I'll say even the historical error, are a key factor in the creation of a nation, to the extent that the progress of historical studies is often a danger to nationality.

Read quote

No idea can succeed except at the expense of sacrifice; no one ever escapes without enduring strain from the struggle of life.

Read quote

Man is not on this earth merely to be happy, or even to be simply honest. He is there to realize great things for humanity, to attain nobility and to surmount the vulgarity of almost everybody.

Read quote

Man makes holy what he believes as he makes beautiful what he loves.

Read quote

Good-humor is a philosophic state of mind; it seems to say to Nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us.

Read quote

The epic disappeared along with the age of personal heroism; there can be no epic with artillery.

Read quote

The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half-true.

Read quote

When people complain of life, it is almost always because they have asked impossible things from it.

Read quote

The man who obeys is nearly always better than the man who commands.

Read quote

Religion is not a popular error; it is a great instinctive truth, sensed by the people, expressed by the people.

Read quote

O Lord, if there is a Lord, save my soul, if I have a soul.

Read quote

The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which Archimedes would have sacrificed his life.

Read quote

The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which Archimedes would have given his life.

Read quote

The virtue of man is, in a word, the great proof of God.

Read quote

Relax yourself from one job by doing a different one.

Read quote

Quotes by Ernest Renan