Notable Quotes by Anatole France

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

14. "Nine tenths of education is encouragement."

15. "The only way to deal with bureaucrats is with stealth and sudden violence."

16. "Stupidity is far more dangerous than evil, for evil takes a break from time to time, stupidity does not."

17. "If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it's still a foolish thing."

18. "To understand is nothing, but to be understood, that is the real prize."

19. "You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving."

20. "Education makes a people easy to lead but difficult to drive; easy to govern but impossible to enslave."

21. "Until the day of his death, no man can be sure of his courage."

22. "Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."

23. "All men are deceived by the appearances of things, even the wisest."

24. "Life is too short, and the time we waste in yawning never can be regained."

25. "What we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope."

26. "Innocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue."

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

28. "The beauty of the unconscious is that you do not know you are creating."

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

30. "The great art of writing is knowing when to stop."

31. "Only men who are not interested in women are interested in women's clothes. Men who like women never notice what they wear."

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

33. "All wars are civil wars because all men are brothers."

34. "It is well for the heart to be naive and for the mind not to be."

35. "The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices make instruments to plague us."

36. "All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret."

37. "Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road."

38. "The only thing that sustains one through life is the consciousness of the immense inferiority of everybody else, and this is a feeling that I have always cultivated."

39. "Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object."

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

41. "The poor have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

42. "Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me."

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

44. "Ignorance and error are necessary to life, like bread and water."

45. "Crimes lead one into another, and breed evil."

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

47. "It is books that teach us to refine our pleasures when young, and to recall them with satisfaction when we are old."

48. "We are not the country's backbone, but its wishbone."

49. "The good critic is he who relates the adventures of his soul among masterpieces."

50. "The ideal life is in our blood and never will be still."

51. "The first virtue of all really great men is that they are sincere."

52. "There are people who want to be everywhere at once, and they get nowhere."

53. "The great beauty, and benefit of language is that it helps us to think."

54. "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

55. "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."

56. "It is well for the heart to be naive and for the mind not to be."

57. "An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't."

58. "Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death."

59. "Existence would be intolerable if we were never to dream."

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

61. "Everything is in a state of flux, including the status quo."

62. "Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me."

63. "Stupidity is far more dangerous than evil, for evil takes a break from time to time, stupidity does not."

64. "What we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope."

65. "I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone."

66. "All wars are civil wars because all men are brothers."

67. "People don't want to be educated, they want to be entertained."

68. "Man's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe."

69. "There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him."

70. "To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time."

71. "The books that help you the most are those which make you think the most."

72. "The average man does not know what to do with this life, yet wants another one which will

last forever."

73. "Our great mistake is to try to get from each person what he has in him."

74. "All the birds in the sky have your wings."

75. "To understand is nothing, but to be understood, that is the real prize."

76. "You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving."

77. "Education makes a people easy to lead but difficult to drive; easy to govern but impossible to enslave."

78. "Until the day of his death, no man can be sure of his courage."

79. "Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."

80. "All men are deceived by the appearances of things, even the wisest."

81. "Life is too short, and the time we waste in yawning never can be regained."

82. "The beauty of the unconscious is that you do not know you are creating."

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

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

85. "The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices make instruments to plague us."

86. "All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret."

87. "Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road."

88. "The only thing that sustains one through life is the consciousness of the immense inferiority of everybody else, and this is a feeling that I have always cultivated."

89. "Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object."

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

91. "The poor have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

92. "Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me."

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

94. "Ignorance and error are necessary to life, like bread and water."

95. "Crimes lead one into another, and breed evil."

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

97. "It is books that teach us to refine our pleasures when young, and to recall them with satisfaction when we are old."

98. "We are not the country's backbone, but its wishbone."

99. "The good critic is he who relates the adventures of his soul among masterpieces."

100. "The ideal life is in our blood and never will be still."

These quotes reflect Anatole France's thoughts on a wide range of subjects, including life, education, wisdom, liberty, and the human condition.