Anatole France (1844–1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie française, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in recognition of his literary achievements.
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Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are those which people have lent me.
—Anatole France
Topics: One liners, Unhappiness
To accomplish great things,
we must not only act but also dream.
Not only plan but also believe.
—Anatole France
It is well for the heart to be naive and for the mind not to be.
—Anatole France
Topics: Knowledge
Universal peace will be realized, not because man will become better, but because a new order of things, a new science, new economic necessities, will impose peace.
—Anatole France
We do not know what to do with this short life, but we want another that will be eternal.
—Anatole France
Our passions are ourselves.
—Anatole France
Topics: Enthusiasm
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.
—Anatole France
Topics: Justice, Wealth
That man is prudent who neither hopes nor fears anything from the uncertain events of the future.
—Anatole France
Topics: The Future, Events, Future
The books that everybody admires are those that nobody reads.
—Anatole France
Topics: Reading, Books
Of all the ways of defining man, the worst is the one which makes him out to be a rational animal.
—Anatole France
When a thing has been said and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.
—Anatole France
It is not customary to love what one has.
—Anatole France
Topics: Blessings, Gratitude, Appreciation
I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom.
—Anatole France
Topics: Enthusiasm, Knowledge
The future is hidden even from those who make it.
—Anatole France
Topics: Tomorrow, The Future
Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.
—Anatole France
Topics: Relaxation, Work
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.
—Anatole France
A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.
—Anatole France
It is in the ability to deceive oneself that the greatest talent is shown.
—Anatole France
Topics: Talent, Deception
If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.
—Anatole France
Topics: One liners
The duty of literature is to note what counts, and to light up what is suited to the light. If it ceases to choose and to love, it becomes like a woman who gives herself without preference.
—Anatole France
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 into another.
—Anatole France
It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly.
—Anatole France
Time deals gently only with those who take it gently.
—Anatole France
Topics: Resilience, Patience
Innocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue.
—Anatole France
Nine tenths of education is encouragement.
—Anatole France
Topics: Encouragement, Education
People who have no weaknesses are terrible; there is no way of taking advantage of them.
—Anatole France
Topics: Weakness
It is by acts and not by ideas that people live.
—Anatole France
Topics: Action
The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.
—Anatole France
Topics: Virtue
We reproach people for talking about themselves, but it is the subject they treat best.
—Anatole France
One must never lose time in vainly regretting the past nor
complaining against the changes which cause us
discomfort, for change is the very essence of life.
—Anatole France
To imagine is everything, to know is nothing at all.
—Anatole France
Topics: Imagination
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