Authors from France

"L'État c'est la grande fiction à travers laquelle tout le monde s'efforce de vivre aux dépens de tout le monde."

"By virtue of exchange, one man's prosperity is beneficial to all others."

"The profit of the one is the profit of the other."

"Competition is merely the absence of oppression."

"In the department of economy, an act, a habit, an institution, a law, gives birth not only to an effect, but to a series of effects. Of these effects, the first only is immediate; it manifests itself simultaneously with its cause — it is seen. The others unfold in succession — they are not seen: it is well for us, if they are foreseen. Between a good and a bad economist this constitutes the whole difference: the one takes account only of the visible effect; the other takes account of both the effects which are seen and those which it is necessary to foresee. Now this difference is enormous, for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favourable, the ultimate consequences are fatal, and the converse. Hence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good, which will be followed by a great evil to come, while the true economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil."

"Either fraternity is spontaneous, or it does not exist. To decree it is to annihilate it. The law can indeed force men to remain just; in vain would it try to force them to be self-sacrificing."

"If socialists mean that under extraordinary circumstances, for urgent cases, the State should set aside some resources to assist certain unfortunate people, to help them adjust to changing conditions, we will, of course, agree. This is done now; we desire that it be done better. There is however, a point on this road that must not be passed; it is the point where governmental foresight would step in to replace individual foresight and thus destroy it."

"[The socialists declare] that the State owes subsistence, well-being, and education to all its citizens; that it should be generous, charitable, involved in everything, devoted to everybody; ...that it should intervene directly to relieve all suffering, satisfy and anticipate all wants, furnish capital to all enterprises, enlightenment to all minds, balm for all wounds, asylums for all the unfortunate, and even aid to the point of shedding French blood, for all oppressed people on the face of the earth. Who would not like to see all these benefits flow forth upon the world from the law, as from an inexhaustible source? … But is it possible? … Whence does [the State] draw those resources that it is urged to dispense by way of benefits to individuals? Is it not from the individuals themselves? How, then, can these resources be increased by passing through the hands of a parasitic and voracious intermediary? ... Finally … we shall see the entire people transformed into petitioners. Landed property, agriculture, industry, commerce, shipping, industrial companies, all will bestir themselves to claim favors from the State. The public treasury will be literally pillaged. Everyone will have good reasons to prove that legal fraternity should be interpreted in this sense: "Let me have the benefits, and let others pay the costs." Everyone's effort will be directed toward snatching a scrap of fraternal privilege from the legislature. The suffering classes, although having the greatest claim, will not always have the greatest success."

"When under the pretext of fraternity, the legal code imposes mutual sacrifices on the citizens, human nature is not thereby abrogated. Everyone will then direct his efforts toward contributing little to, and taking much from, the common fund of sacrifices. Now, is it the most unfortunate who gains from this struggle? Certainly not, but rather the most influential and calculating."

"Lorsque la Spoliation est devenue le moyen d’existence d’une agglomération d’hommes unis entre eux par le lien social, ils se font bientôt une loi qui la sanctionne, une morale qui la glorifie."

"It is a rather singular argument to maintain that, because an abuse which has been permitted a temporary existence, cannot be corrected without wounding the interests of those who have profited by it, it ought, therefore, to claim perpetual duration."

"Life, faculties, production — in other words, individuality, liberty, property — this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place."

"It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder."

"When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law."

"Thus, if there exists a law which sanctions slavery or monopoly, oppression or robbery, in any form whatever, it must not even be mentioned. For how can it be mentioned without damaging the respect which it inspires? Still further, morality and political economy must be taught from the point of view of this law; from the supposition that it must be a just law merely because it is a law. Another effect of this tragic perversion of the law is that it gives an exaggerated importance to political passions and conflicts, and to politics in general."

"But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime."

"Legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on. All these plans as a whole — with their common aim of legal plunder — constitute socialism."

"No legal plunder: This is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony, and logic. Until the day of my death, I shall proclaim this principle with all the force of my lungs (which alas! is all too inadequate)."

"Essayez d’imaginer une forme de travail imposée par la Force, qui ne soit une atteinte à la Liberté ; une transmission de richesse imposée par la Force, qui ne soit une atteinte à la Propriété. Si vous n’y parvenez pas, convenez donc que la Loi ne peut organiser le travail et l’industrie sans organiser l’Injustice."

"Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain. I do not dispute their right to invent social combinations, to advertise them, to advocate them, and to try them upon themselves, at their own expense and risk. But I do dispute their right to impose these plans upon us by law – by force – and to compel us to pay for them with our taxes."

"If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?"

"It seems to me that this is theoretically right, for whatever the question under discussion — whether religious, philosophical, political, or economic; whether it concerns prosperity, morality, equality, right, justice, progress, responsibility, cooperation, property, labor, trade, capital, wages, taxes, population, finance, or government — at whatever point on the scientific horizon I begin my researches, I invariably reach this one conclusion: The solution to the problems of human relationships is to be found in liberty."

"Le plus pressé, ce n'est pas que l'État enseigne, mais qu'il laisse enseigner. Tous les monopoles sont détestables, mais le pire de tous, c'est le monopole de l'enseignement."

"If (when) goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will."

"By the way, have you had time to read Bastiat's partly posthumous volume, 'Les Harmonies Economiques'? If not, do so; it will require a studious perusal, but will repay it. He has breathed a soul into the dry bones of political economy, and has vindicated his favourite science from the charge of inhumanity with all the fervour of a religious devotee."

"In three years every Frenchman can know how to read. Do you think that we shall be the better off? Imagine on the other hand that in each commune, there was ONE bourgeois, only one, who had read Bastiat, and that this bourgeois was respected, things would change."

"The shallowest and therefore the most successful representative of the apologists of vulgar economics."

"Bastiat...was not long in awakening to the fact that not Protection but Socialism was now the foe that menaced France. He turned round with admirable versatility, and brought to bear on the new monster the same keen and patient scrutiny, the same skilful dexterity in reasoning and illustration, which had done such good service against the more venerable heresy. The pamphlets which he wrote between 1848 and 1850 contain by much the most penetrating and effective examination that the great Socialist writers in France have ever received."

"When Sir Robert Peel had at last passed his famous measure [the repeal of the Corn Laws], Bastiat, a French economist and Cobden's friend, was gravely disappointed. It was not enough that the markets of England were thrown wide open to French commerce. "What you have to show France above all else," said Bastiat in an astounding letter, "is that freedom of exchange will cause the disappearance of those military perils which France apprehends. England ought seriously to disarm." It would be hard indeed to surpass the pedant naïveté of this French Free Trader. It was not enough that England should surrender her markets—she must surrender herself as well, or France would not believe in her sincerity!"

"On cherche dans des considérations abstraites la définition de la vie ; on la trouvera, je crois, dans cet aperçu général : la vie est l'ensemble des fonctions qui résistent à la mort. Tel est en effet le mode d'existence des corps vivans, que tout ce qui les entoure tend à les détruire."

"On dirait que le végétal est l'ébauche, le canevas de l'animal, et que, pour former ce dernier, il n'a fallu que revêtir ce canevas d'un appareil d'organes extérieurs, propres à établir des relations. Il résulte de là que les fonctions de l'animal forment deux classes très-distinctes. Les unes se composent d'une succession habituelle d'assimilation et d'excrétion ; par elles il transforme sans cesse en sa propre substance les molécules des corps voisins, et rejette ensuite ces molécules, lorsqu'elles lui sont devenues hétérogènes. Il ne vit qu'en lui, par cette classe de fonctions ; par l'autre il existe hors de lui : il est l'habitant du monde, et non, comme le végétal, du lieu qui le vit naître. Il sent et aperçoit ce qui l'entoure, réfléchit ses sensations, se meut volontairement d'après leur influenc, et le plus souvent peut communiquer par la voix, ses désirs et ses craintes, ses plaisirs ou ses peines. J'appelle vie organique l'ensemble des fonctions de la première classe, parce que tous les êtres organisés, végétaux ou animaux, en jouissent à un degré plus ou moins marqué, et que la texture organique est la seule condition nécessaire à son exercice. Les fonctions réunies de la seconde classe forment la vie animale, ainsi nommée, parce qu'elle est l'attribut exclusif du règne animal."

"Bichat vient de mourir sur un champ de bataille qui compte aussi plus d'une victime ; personne en si peu de temps n'a fait tant de choses et si bien."

"Ceux-là qui aiment à se faire craindre, craignent de se faire aimer, et eux-mêmes craignent plus que tous les autres; car les autres ne craignent qu'eux, mais eux craignent tous les autres."

"When your heart roams or gets distracted lead it back very gently, softly putting it close to its Master; and even if you spend your whole hour doing nothing except gathering up your heart quite calmly and putting it close to Our Lord, and even if your heart does nothing except turn away as soon as you have led it back, your hour will have been very well spent"

"There are no galley-slaves in the royal vessel of divine love—every man works his oar voluntarily!"

"You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working ; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves."

"Have patience with every one, but especially with yourself."

"A heart-memory is better than a mere head-memory. Better to carry away a little of the love of Christ in our souls, than if we were able to repeat every word of every sermon we ever heard."

"De quoi sert-il de bastir des chasteaux en Espagne puisqu’il faut habiter en France?"

"È innanzitutto certo che in tutta la Sacra Scrittura non si troverà mai traccia della Chiesa attuale intesa come una società invisibile; ne esporrò qui, con la massima fedeltà, le ragioni. Gesù Cristo, nostro Redentore e Maestro, per ogni difficoltà o dissenso – sia di dottrina che di morale – ci rimanda sempre alla santa Chiesa per ottenerne l’infallibile soluzione. San Paolo insegna a Timoteo come i cristiani debbano vivere concretamente nella Chiesa. Egli stesso fece convocare gli anziani della chiesa asiatica, mostrando loro come fossero stati costituiti dallo Spirito Santo per reggere la Chiesa. Egli stesso, infine, fu inviato dalla Chiesa insieme a San Barnaba Egli stesso fu inviato dalla Chiesa insieme a San Barnaba e da quelle stesse chiese fu ricevuto per confermarle e per ordinarvi i sacri pastori, i vescovi e i sacerdoti. Ora, come si potrebbe riferire tutto questo a una Chiesa invisibile e immaginaria? E dove mai avrebbe potuto trovare una simile chiesa per presentarvi ricorsi giudiziari, per viverci e per governarla?"

"We accuse our neighbours for minor things, and excuse ourselves for major ones."

"Since we live in the world, we must follow the laws of the world in everything that is not sinful"

"Cor ad cor loquitur."

"What we do for others always seems like a lot, what others do for us seems like nothing."

"Madam, this desire [for holiness] must be in you like the orange trees of the Genoese Riviera, which, for almost the entire year, are laden with fruit, flowers and leaves at the same time."

"The damned are in the abyss of Hell, as within a woeful city, where they suffer unspeakable torments, in all their senses and members, because as they have employed all their senses and their members in sinning, so shall they suffer in each of them the punishment due to sin."

"Make friends with the angels, who though invisible are always with you.... Often invoke them, constantly praise them, and make good use of their help and assistance in all your temporal and spiritual affairs."

"Car l'amitié est un amour mutuel, & s'il n'est mutuel, ce n'est pas amitié."

"It is the mark of a mean, vulgar and ignoble spirit to dwell on the thought of food before meal times or worse to dwell on it afterwards, to discuss it and wallow in the remembered pleasures of every mouthful. Those whose minds dwell before dinner on the spit, and after on the dishes, are fit only to be scullions."

"The elephant, not only the largest but the most intelligent of animals, provides us with an excellent example. It is faithful and tenderly loving to the female of its choice, mating only every third year and then for no more than five days, and so secretly as never to be seen, until, on the sixth day, it appears and goes at once to wash its whole body in the river, unwilling to return to the herd until thus purified. Such good and modest habits are an example to husband and wife."

"Metaphysics, because it opens out a limitless vista of possibilities, must take care never to lose sight of the inexpressible, which indeed constitutes its very essence."

"Europeans, since the days when they began to believe in "progress" and in "evolution," that is to say since a little more than a century ago, profess to see a sign of inferiority in this absence of change, whereas for our part, we look upon it as a balanced condition which Western civilization has failed to achieve."

"It seems scarcely possible to account for this attitude except by means of the following explanation: because their own civilization hardly goes any further back than the Graeco-Roman period and derives for the most part from it, Westerners are led to believe that it must have been the same in every other case, and they have difficulty in conceiving of the existence of entirely different and far more ancient civilizations. It might be said that they are mentally incapable of crossing the Mediterranean."

"We are now in the fourth age, the Kali Yuga or 'dark age', and have been so already, it is said, for more than six thousand years, that is to say since a time far earlier than any known to 'classical' history. Since that time, the truths which were formerly within reach of all have become more and more hidden and inaccessible; those who possess them grow fewer and fewer, and although the treasure of 'nonhuman (that is, supra-human) wisdom that was prior to all the ages can never be lost, it nevertheless becomes enveloped in more and more impenetrable veils, which hide it from men's sight and make it extremely difficult to discover. This is why we find everywhere, under various symbols, the same theme of something that has been lost-at least to all appearances and as far as the outer world is concerned-and that those who aspire to true knowledge must rediscover; but it is also said that what is thus hidden will become visible again at the end of the cycle, which, because of the continuity binding all things together, will coincide with the beginning of a new cycle."

"We have in fact entered upon the last phase of the Kali Yuga, the darkest period of this 'dark age', the state of dissolution from which it is impossible to emerge otherwise than by a cataclysm, since it is not a mere readjustment that is necessary at such a stage, but a complete renovation. Disorder and confusion prevail in every domain and have been carried to a point far surpassing all that has been known previously, so that, issuing from the West, they now threaten to invade the whole world; we know full well that their triumph can never be other than apparent and transitory, but such are the proportions which it has reached, that it would appear to be the sign of the gravest of all the crises through which mankind has passed in the course of its present cycle. Have we not arrived at that terrible age, announced in the Sacred Books of India, 'when the castes shall be mingled, when even the family shall no longer exist'?"

"Is it because Westerners have come to lose their intellectuality by over-developing their capacity for action that they console themselves by inventing theories that set action above everything else, and even, as in the case of pragmatism, go so far as to deny that there exists anything of value beyond action; or is the contrary true, namely, that it is the acceptance of this point of view that has led to the intellectual atrophy we see today?"

"Matter is essentially multiplicity and division, and this-be it said in passing-is why all that proceeds from matter can beget only strife and all manner of conflicts between peoples as between individuals. The deeper one sinks into matter, the more the elements of division and opposition gain force and scope; and, contrariwise, the more one rises toward pure spirituality, the nearer one approaches that unity which can only be fully realized by consciousness of universal principles."

"There is an exact correspondence between a world where everything seems to be in a state of mere 'becoming', leaving no place for the changeless and the permanent, and the state of mind of men who find all reality in this 'becoming', thus implicitly denying true knowledge as well as the object of that knowledge, namely transcendent and universal principles."

"It was however only in the nineteenth century that men began to glory in their ignorance–for to proclaim oneself an agnostic means nothing else–and claimed to deny to others any knowledge to which they had no access themselves; and this marked yet one more stage in the intellectual decline of the West."

"In civilizations of a traditional nature, intellectual intuition lies at the root of everything; in other words, it is the pure metaphysical doctrine that constitutes the essential, everything else being linked to it, either in the form of consequences or applications to the various orders of contingent reality. Not only is this true of social institutions, but also of the sciences, that is, branches of knowledge bearing on the domain of the relative, which in such civilizations are only regarded as dependencies, prolongations, or reflections of absolute or principial knowledge. Thus a true hierarchy is always and everywhere preserved: the relative is not treated as non-existent, which would be absurd; it is duly taken into consideration, but is put in its rightful place, which cannot but be a secondary and subordinate one; and even within this relative domain there are different degrees of reality, according to whether the subject lies nearer to or further from the sphere of principles."

"If an idea is true, it belongs equally to all who are capable of understanding it."

"Philosophy […] is interesting mainly because it expresses, in as clear a form as possible, the tendencies of this or that period, much more than it actually creates them; and even if it can be said to direct them to a certain extent, it does so only secondarily and when they are already formed."

"A philosopher's renown is increased more by inventing a new error than by repeating a truth that has already been expressed by others."

"Protestantism denied the authority of the organization qualified to interpret legitimately the religious tradition of the West and in its place claimed to set up "free criticism," that is to say interpretations resulting from private judgement, even of the ignorant and the incompetent, and based exclusively on the exercise of human reason. What happened in the realm of religion was therefore analogous to the part to be played by rationalism in philosophy: the door was left open to all manner of discussions, divergencies and deviations, and the result was what it was bound to be: dispersion in an ever growing multitude of sects, each of which represents no more than the private opinion of certain individuals. As it was impossible under such conditions to come to an agreement on doctrine, this was soon thrust into the background, and the secondary aspect of religion, namely morality came to the fore: hence the degeneration into moralism which is so patent in present-day Protestantism."

"Where is the notion of a real hierarchy still to be found in the modern world? Nothing and nobody is any longer in the right place; men no longer recognize any effective authority in the spiritual order or any legitimate power in the temporal; the 'profane' presume to discuss what is sacred, and to contest its character and even its existence; the inferior judges the superior, ignorance sets bounds to wisdom, error prevails over truth, the human is substituted for the Divine, earth has priority over Heaven, the individual sets the measure for all things and claims to dictate to the universe laws drawn entirely from his own relative and fallible reason. 'Woe unto you, ye blind guides,' the Gospel says; and indeed everywhere today one sees nothing but blind leaders of the blind, who, unless restrained by some timely check, will inevitably lead them into the abyss, there to perish with them."

"It is contradictory to say that the same persons can be at the same time rulers and ruled […] The great ability of those who are in control in the modern world lies in making the people believe that they are governing themselves; and the people are the more inclined to believe this as they are flattered by it, and as, in any case, they are incapable of sufficient reflection to see its impossibility. It was to create this illusion that 'universal suffrage' was invented: the law is supposed to be made by the opinion of the majority, but what is overlooked is that this opinion is something that can very easily be guided and modified; it is always possible, by means of suitable suggestions, to arouse, as may be desired, currents moving in this or that direction. We cannot recall who it was who first spoke of 'manufacturing opinion', but this expression is very apt."

"Let us probe still more deeply into the question: what is this law of the greatest number which modern governments invoke and in which they claim to find their sole justification? It is simply the law of matter and brute force, the same law by which a mass, carried down by its weight, crushes everything that lies in its track. It is precisely here that we find the point of junction of the democratic conception and materialism, and here also is to be found the reason why this conception is so firmly rooted in the present-day mentality."

"Multiplicity, considered apart from its principle, and therefore as no longer capable of being reduced to unity, takes the form in the social realm of a community conceived only as the arithmetical sum of its component individuals; in fact, a community is no more than this, once it has ceased to be attached to any principle superior to these individuals."

"'Aristocracy', […] taken in its etymological sense, means precisely the power of the elite. The elite can by definition only be the few, and their power, or rather their authority, deriving as it does from their intellectual superiority, has nothing in common with the numerical strength on which democracy is based, a strength whose inherent tendency is to sacrifice the minority to the majority, and therefore quality to quantity, and the elite to the masses."

"The guiding function exercised by a true elite, and its very existence–since of necessity it plays this role if it exists at all–is utterly incompatible with democracy, which is closely bound up with the egalitarian conception, and therefore with the negation of all hierarchy; the very foundation of the democratic idea is the supposition that one individual is as good as another, simply because they are equal numerically and in spite of the fact that they can never be equal in any other way. A true elite, as we have already said, can only be an intellectual one; and that is why democracy can arise only where pure intellectuality no longer exists, as is the case in the modern world."

"Since equality is in fact impossible, and since, despite all efforts toward leveling, the differences between one man and another cannot in practice be entirely suppressed, men have been brought, by a curious illogic, to invent false elites–of several kinds moreover–that claim to take the place of the one true elite; and these false elites are based on a variety of totally relative and contingent points of superiority, always of a purely material order. This is obvious from the fact that the social distinction that counts most in the present state of things is that based on wealth, that is to say on a purely outward superiority of an exclusively quantitative order, the only superiority in fact that is consistent with democracy, based as it is on the same point of view."

"There can be only one way out of the chaos, in the social domain as in all others: the restoration of intellectuality, which would result in the formation once more of an elite."

"There are people whose mind would recoil from actual negation, but who have no objection to complete indifference; this is what is most to be feared, for to deny something one must think about it to some extent, however little that may be, whereas an attitude of indifference makes it possible not to think about it at all."

"It is true that the masses have always been led in one manner or another, and it could be said that their part in history consists primarily in allowing themselves to be led, since they represent a merely passive element, a 'matter' in the Aristotelian sense of the word. But, in order to lead them today, it is sufficient to dispose of purely material means, this time in the ordinary sense of the word, and this shows clearly to what depths our age has sunk. At the same time, the masses are made to believe that they are not being led, but that they are acting spontaneously and governing themselves, and the fact that they believe this is a sign from which the extent of their stupidity may be inferred."

"It is strange that people should talk so much about ending all war at a time when the ravages it causes are greater than they have ever been, not only because the means of destruction have been multiplied, but also because, as wars are no longer fought between comparatively small armies composed solely of professional soldiers, all the individuals on both sides are flung against each other indiscriminately, including those who are the least qualified for this kind of function. Here again is a striking example of modern confusion, and it is truly portentous, for those who care to reflect upon it, that a 'mass uprising' or a 'general mobilization' should have come to be considered quite natural, and that with very few exceptions the minds of all should have accepted the idea of an 'armed nation'. In this also can be seen an outcome of the belief in the power of numbers alone: it is in keeping with the quantitative character of modern civilization to set in motion enormous masses of combatants; and at the same time, egalitarianism also finds its expression here, as well as in systems such as 'compulsory education' and 'universal suffrage'."

"The traditional spirit cannot die, being in its essence above death and change; but it can withdraw completely from the outward world […] We may see the 'beginning of the end', the preliminary sign of the moment when, according to the Hindu tradition, the whole of the sacred doctrine is to be shut in a conch-shell, from which it will once more come forth intact at the dawn of the new world."

"First of all, if we speak of two powers, and if we do so in cases where it becomes necessary for various reasons to maintain a certain external symmetry between them, we prefer to use the word 'authority' rather than the word 'power' for the spiritual order. The word 'power' can then be reserved for the temporal order, to which it is better suited when taken in its strictest sense. In fact, the word 'power' almost inevitably evokes the idea of strength or force, and above all the idea of a material force, a force which manifests itself visibly and outwardly and affirms itself by the use of external means, for such means indeed characterize the temporal power by very definition. On the contrary, spiritual authority, interior in essence, is affirmed only by itself, independently of any sensible support, and operates as it were invisibly. If we can speak in this context of strength or force, it is only by analogical transposition, and, at least in the case of a spiritual authority—in its purest state so to speak—it must be understood that it is an entirely intellectual strength whose name is 'wisdom' and whose only force is that of truth."

"The true function of the priesthood, then, is above all one of knowledge and teaching, and this is why, as we said above, its proper attribute is wisdom."

"If the 'priesthood' is in essence the depository of traditional knowledge, this is not to say that it has a monopoly on it, since its mission is not only to conserve it integrally but also to communicate it to all who are fit to receive it, to distribute it hierarchically, so to speak, according to the intellectual capacity of each."

"In order to subsist, then, temporal power needs a consecration that comes from spiritual authority; it is this consecration that confers upon it legitimacy, that is to say conformity with the very order of things. Such was the raison d'être of the 'royal initiation' […] and it is in this that the 'divine right' of kings properly consists, what the Far-Eastern tradition calls the 'mandate of Heaven' […] All action that does not proceed from knowledge is lacking in principle and thus is nothing but a vain agitation; likewise, all temporal power that fails to recognize its subordination vis-à-vis spiritual authority is vain and illusory: separated from its principle, it can only exert itself in a disorderly way and move inexorably to its own ruin."

"[T]he supremacy of the Brahmins maintains doctrinal orthodoxy; the revolt of the Kshatriyas leads to heterodoxy; but with the domination of the lower castes comes intellectual night, and this is what in our day has become of a West that threatens to spread its own darkness over the entire world."

"[The priesthood] truly plays the role of 'mediator' between heaven and earth, and it is not without reason that in the Western traditions the priesthood in all its plenitude received the symbolic name of 'pontificate', for, as Saint Bernard says, 'the Pontiff, as indicated by the etymology of his name, is a kind of bridge [pont] between God and man.' If one then wished to go back to the primal origin of the priestly and royal powers, one must look to the 'celestial world'."

"In exchange for the guarantee of their power by the spiritual authority, the Kshatriyas must use this power to ensure that the Brahmins will have the means to peacefully accomplish their proper function of knowledge and teaching, sheltered from trouble and agitation. This is what is represented in Hindu symbolism by the image of Skanda, lord of war, protecting the meditation of Ganesha, lord of knowledge."

"The dependence of the temporal power on the spiritual authority has its visible sign in the anointing of kings, who are not truly 'legitimized' until they have received investiture and consecration from the hands of the priesthood, implying the transmission of a 'spiritual influence' necessary for the regular exercise of their function."

"During the Middle Ages there existed throughout the West a real unity, based on properly traditional foundations, which we call 'Christendom', but when these secondary unities of a purely political—that is to say temporal and no longer spiritual—order were formed, this great unity of the West was irremediably broken and the effective existence of Christendom came to an end. Nations, merely the dispersed fragments of what was formerly Christendom, false unities substituted for the true one by the temporal power's will to dominate can, given the very conditions of their origin, survive only by opposing each other and ceaselessly contending among themselves in all fields. Now spirit is unity, matter is multiplicity and division; and the more one removes oneself from spirituality, the more antagonisms are accentuated and amplified. No one can deny that the feudal wars, which were quite localized and subject to the moreover to restrictive regulation by the spiritual authority, were nothing compared to the national wars that have resulted, following the Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire, in 'armed nations', and we have seen in our own day new developments hardly reassuring for the future."

"This idea of a national church first appeared in Protestant countries; or, to be more exact, it was perhaps above all to realize this idea that Protestantism was instigated, for it seems clear that Luther was hardly anything more, at least politically, than an instrument of the ambitions of certain German princes."

"The Reformation is the most visible symptom of the rupture of the spiritual unity of Christendom; but it is not what actually first began 'to rend the seamless robe', as Joseph de Maistre puts it, for this rupture had long been a fait accompli, since, as we have already said, its beginnings can in fact be traced back two centuries earlier."

"It is worth noting that Protestantism suppresses the clergy, and though it claims to uphold the authority of the Bible, it in fact ruins it by 'free inquiry'."

"[A]s one sinks deeper into materiality, instability grows and changes take place more rapidly; thus the reign of the bourgeoisie will be relatively short-lived in comparison with the regime that preceded it. Furthermore, as usurpation calls forth usurpation, it is now the Shūdras who follow the Vaishyas in aspiring for domination, such being precisely the significance of bolshevism."

"The relationship between these two powers may be expressed by saying that the pope must keep for himself the golden key to the 'Celestial Paradise' and entrust to the emperor the silver key to the 'Terrestrial Paradise'."

"[T]he revolt of the Kshatriyas prepares the way for that of the Vaishyas and the Shūdras; and so, from one stage to another, we descend at last to the lowest kind of utilitarianism, the negation of all disinterested knowledge (even of the lowest rank) and of all reality beyond the perceptible domain. This is precisely what one witnesses in our own time, where the Western world has nearly arrived at the final stage of this descent which, like the fall of heavy bodies, keeps accelerating."

"Dante's corpus as a whole is in certain respects like a testament to the closing medieval age; it shows what the Western world would have been had it not broken from its tradition."

"From the social point of view as from all others, instability is as it were at its maximum, disorder and confusion are everywhere, and humanity has surely never been further from the 'Terrestrial Paradise' and from primordial spirituality."

"Among those who in spite of all have kept something of the traditional spirit (and we address them because they are the only ones whose thought could have any value in our eyes), how many envisage the truth for its own sake, in a totally disinterested way, independent of every sentimental preoccupation, of every party or ideological passion, of all concern for domination or proselytism?"

"Patiens quia æterna [patient because eternal] is sometimes said of spiritual authority, and rightly so; not of course that any of the external forms it may assume will be eternal, for every form is only contingent and transitory, but because in itself, in its true essence, it partakes of the eternity and the immutability of the principles; and this is why, in all conflicts that pit temporal power against spiritual authority, one can rest assured that, whatever the appearances may be, it is always the latter that will have the last word."

"The “end of a world” never is and never can be anything but the end of an illusion."

"Thus the sedentary peoples create the plastic arts (architecture, sculpture, painting), the arts consisting of forms developed in space; the nomads create the phonetic arts (music, poetry), the arts consisting of forms unfolded in time; for, let us say it again, all art is in its origin essentially symbolical and ritual, and only through a late degeneration, indeed a very recent degeneration, has it lost its sacred character so as to become at last the purely profane 'recreation' to which it has been reduced among our contemporaries."

"There is thus all the more reason to exercise extreme vigilance ... against anything that may lead the being to become "fused," or preferably and more accurately "confused" or even "dissolved," in a sort of "cosmic consciousness" that shuts out all "transcendence" and so also shuts out all effective spirituality. This is the ultimate consequence of all the anti-metaphysical errors known more especially in their philosophical aspect by such names as "pantheism," "immanentism," and "naturalism.""

"What is to be said of someone who flings himself into the Ocean and has no aspiration but to drown himself in it? This is precisely the significance of the so-called "fusion" with a "cosmic consciousness" which is really nothing but the confused and indistinct assemblage of all the psychic influences."

"The truth is that there is really no "profane realm" that could in any way be opposed to a "sacred realm"; there is only a "profane point of view", which is really none other than the point of view of ignorance."

"In the higher degrees of Scottish Freemasonry, there are two mottos whose meaning is related to some of the considerations we have outlined above: one is Post Tenebras Lux and the other Ordo ab Chao; and in truth their meanings are so closely connected as to be almost identical, although Ordo ab Chao is perhaps susceptible to a broader application. In fact, they both refer to initiatory "enlightenment", the first directly and the second consequentially, since it is the original vibration of Fiat Lux that determines the beginning of the cosmogonic process as a result of which "chaos" will be ordered to become the "cosmos". In traditional symbolism, darkness always represents the state of undeveloped potentialities that constitute chaos; and correlatively, light is related to the manifested world, in which these potentialities will be actualised, that is, to the “cosmos”, an actualisation that is determined or measured, at each moment of the process of manifestation, by the extension of the “sun's rays” that depart from the central point where the initial Fiat Lux was uttered. Light is therefore effectively “after darkness”, not only from a "macrocosmic" point of view, but also from a "microcosmic" point of view which is that of initiation, since, from this point of view, darkness represents the profane world from which the recipient comes, or the profane state in which he initially finds himself, until the precise moment when he becomes initiated by “receiving the light”. Through initiation, the being therefore passes “from darkness to light”, just as the world, at its origin (and the symbolism of “birth” is equally applicable in both cases), passed “from darkness to light” by virtue of the act of the creative and ordering Word; and consequently initiation is truly, according to a very general characteristic of traditional rites, an image of “what was done in the beginning”."

"No living writer in modern Europe is more significant than René Guénon, whose task it has been to expound the universal metaphysical tradition that has been the essential foundation of every past culture, and which represents the indispensable basis for any civilization deserving to be so called."

"If Guénon is correct, then all my work is for naught."

"The criticism which Guénon levels against modern scientism in all of its materialistic, pragmatist and evolutionary trajectories, is the most serious and the most radical of all the criticisms ever made. On the other hand, once it is applied to a social and practical plane, any knowledge which tradition draws from its metaphysical premises can be translated into principles which can properly situate and organize mundane activities and bestow on them a higher meaning; these principles can also create institutional forms adequate to this purpose and prolong "life" into something which is "more than life." In this context, Guénon's deductions assume a radical character: hierarchical, aristocratic, anti-individualist, anti-social and anti-collectivist … the knowledge and the study of the works of this author should be recommended to the best elements and to those who are most anxious to receive an authentic spiritual orientation in our new Italy. … These elements would find in Guenon’s works perspectives which are far removed from any particularism and personalism. … I feel this to be case, since the promise of Guenon’s “radical traditionalism” is the same as Mussolini’s idéal of the attainment of a “permanent and universal reality,” which is the necessary requirement for any person who wishes to act spiritually in the world with a “dominating human will.”"

"In any case, Guénon belongs in essence to the culture of the Right. His work is a radical negation of democracy, socialism, and individualism. He goes even further, into areas barely touched upon by current Right-wing critiques."

"Carl Schmitt believes René Guénon is the most interesting person of our time. (I don’t believe this always, but often I do. Although I consider Aurobindo Ghose more “perfected.”)"

"If during the last century or so there has been even some slight revival of awareness in the Western world of what is meant by metaphysics and metaphysical tradition, the credit for it must go above all to Guénon. At a time when the confusion into which modern Western thought had fallen was such that it threatened to obliterate the few remaining traces of genuine spiritual knowledge from the minds and hearts of his contemporaries, Guénon, virtually single-handed, took it upon himself to reaffirm the values and principles which, he recognized, constitute the only sound basis for the living of a human life with dignity and purpose or for the formation of a civilization worthy of the name."

"La politique est … la science de la production."

"No man has a right to free himself from the law of labour"

"True equality consists in each drawing benefits from society in exact proportion to his social outlay, that is to his real capacity, to the beneficent use he makes of his abilities. And this equality is the natural foundation of industrial society."

"Equality is the natural foundation of industrial society"

"In the old system Society is governed essentially by men; in the new it is governed only by principles"

"[A]ujourd'hui … [i]l est question, pour la première fois depuis l'existence des sociétés, d'organiser un système tout-à-fait nouveau, de remplacer le céleste par le terrestre, le vague par le positif, le poétique par le réel."

"[J]e me propose en m'adressant à différentes fractions de l'humanité, que je divise en trois classes: la première, celle à laquelle vous et moi avons l'honneur d'appartenir, marche sous l'étendard des progrès de l'esprit humain; elle marche sous l'étendard des progrès de l'esprit humain; elle est composée des savants, des artistes et de tous les hommes qui ont des idées libérales. Sur la bannière de la seconde il est écrit: point d'innovation; tous les propriétaires qui n'entrent point dans la première sont attachés à la seconde. La troisième, qui se rallie au mot égalité, renferme le surplus de l'humanité."

"Le philosophe se place au sommet de la pensée; de là il envisage ce qu'a été le monde et ce qu'il doit devenir. Il n'est pas seulement observateur, il est acteur; il est acteur du premier genre dans le monde moral, car ce sont ses opinions sur, car ce sont ses opinions sur ce que le monde doit devenir qui règlent la société humaine."

"La société tout entière repose sur l'industrie. L'industrie est la seule garantie de son existence, la source unique de toutes les richesses et de toutes les prospérités. L'état de choses le plus favorable à l'industrie est donc par cela seul le plus favorable à la Société."

"We regard society as the ensemble and union of men engaged in useful work. We can conceive of no other kind of society."

"Since governmental activity may be deemed a service which is useful to society, society should consent to pay for this service."

"It was in America, while I was fighting for the cause of industrial liberty, that I first felt the desire to see this plant from another world flower in my own country. This desire has since dominated all my thinking. Without respite I studied the course of advancement and further assured myself that the progress of civilisation could have no other end. And I invoked this aim of true liberty, true public happiness, with my most fervent hopes. For me every event that seemed to point in that direction was a new joy, a new hope. The French Revolution broke out, and at first it seemed to be thoroughly industrial. But it soon lost that character, and the many noble efforts which ought to have produced liberty resulted only in the tyranny of the Jacobins and military despotism. A happier age has now started to dawn for us: at last a government has been established which declares its own power to be based on the power of opinion. Ever since then France has yielded to common sense, that is, to the free discussion of its common interests."

"It may be argued that writers stick to their convictions and serve only the truth, and that they only approve and support governmental conduct when they judge it to be in the interests of the governed. We accept that. We know that even those writers working under the eyes and under the influence of the Government always work, or at least claim to work only for society as a whole, and would be offended if it were thought otherwise. Nevertheless, we are convinced that the governed know better than anyone what they want and what is in their interest. We believe that government is at least an unnecessary intermediary between those who think about the public interest and those who feel it, between political writers and industry."

"The progress of the human mind, the revolutions which occur in the development of knowledge, give each century its special character."

"The philosophy of the last century was revolutionary ; that of the nineteenth century must be constructive. Lack of institutions leads to the destruction of all society; outworn institutions prolong the ignorance and the prejudices of the times which produce them. Shall we be forced to choose between barbarism and stupidity? Writers of the nineteenth century, you alone can avert this frightful dilemma."

"After a violent convulsion Europe fears fresh disasters, and feel the end for a long repose; the sovereigns of all the European nations are assembled to give her peace. All of them seem to desire peace, all are famed for their wisdom, yet they will not reach their goal. I have asked myself why all the efforts of the statesmen are powerless against the evils which afflict Europe, and I have perceived that there is no salvation for Europe except through a general reorganization. I have thought out a plan of reorganization: the explanation of this plan is the subject of this work."

"To colonize the world with the European race, which is superior to every other race: to make the world accessible and habitable like Europe—such is the sort of enterprise by which the European Parliament should continually keep Europe active and happy"

"Saint-Simon was the founder of corporatism, or at least of technocracy. It is in Saint-Simon that we find the identification of the categories life, or society, with industry. Saint-Simon helps to generate a theme which subsequently pervades all socialist traditions, for he raises the issue of status or legitimacy of citizenship with reference to productivity. Saint-Simon's hoped-for world is not only one where those who do not work shall not eat; it is also a place where they absolutely shall not rule. As Paul Ricoeur points out, Saint-Simon leaves a legacy which affects all socialisms, for he introduces into social theory (he theme of idleness and parasitism as social problems consequent on the evasion of the central social responsibility ascribed to citizens: the duty to be productive. Saint-Simon then adds his second profound message – that the elimination of the social problem of parasitism can finally lead to the disappearance of the state. For the logic of Saint-Simon is that the only legitimate social functions are those of production, and those of the scholarship which aids production. It is no accident that this corporatist utopia is today defended by western labour movements, for it exhausts the contemporary utopic vision of citizenship – good citizens are those who either boost Gross National Product or who conduct Wissenschaft as part of that process. For Saint-Simon was indeed to argue that 'Politics is the science of production'; here there is a politics of economic interests, but no other politics. Thus the second legacy – for where there is no politics, there need be no state, or at least no state conventionally defined. Saint-Simon proposes that there ought henceforth to be three chambers of government, functionally defined and solely directed to the national productive task." Politics would thus become administration, society would become a technocratic utopia untroubled by the routine vicissitudes of everyday life as encountered by the 'unproductive' masses. Bourgeoisie and proletariat would be locked into perpetual embrace, while parasites rich and poor alike would wither and government along with them. For the new society would only have hands, head and heart, and the parasites would be expelled by the body corporate."

"Saint-Simon was the prophet of meritocracy, seeking to reorder society in the image of the new chessboard he had designed for revolutionary France, with a hierarchy in which the king was replaced by a figure called Talent."

"In contrast with Babeuf, the French theorist the Comte de Saint-Simon was no believer in equality, but he has some claim to be regarded as the ‘founder of modern theoretical socialism, conceived not merely as an ideal but as the outcome of a historical process’. Saint-Simon believed that free economic competition produced poverty and crises and that society was moving inexorably to a stage when its affairs would be planned in accordance with social needs. He was resolutely opposed to violence and held that the most educated section of society would become convinced of the necessity of the development of more rational administration, based upon the application of science, and that other social groups would be won over to an appreciation of such a development. Although Saint-Simon’s was the first form of socialism to which the young Karl Marx was introduced – by his future father-in-law, Ludwig von Westphalen – Marx was later to pour scorn on Saint-Simon’s followers on account of their utopianism, commitment to peaceful change and trust in the possibility of class cooperation rather than the inevitability of class struggle."

"[Count Henri de Saint-Simon] was for a time supported by his former valet, whose function had been—so the Saint-Simonian legend says, and it is not hard to believe—to rouse the count each day with the words, "Get up, my lord, you have great things to do today!""

"A religion of life had come to replace a religion of penance and emaciation, of fasting and prayer. The crucified body had risen in its turn and was no longer abashed Man had reached a harmonious unity: he had discovered that he is a single being not made, like a pendulum, of two different metals, that check each other; he realised that the foe in his members had ceased to exist."

"Of the "utopian socialists," to use Marx's label, Saint-Simon was the most accurate forecaster of the politics and economics of industry. Rational, worldwide territorial planning is implied in Saint-Simon's system..."

"Saint-Simon was the first to emphasize the efficiency of huge industrial undertakings and argued that the government should actively intervene in production, distribution, and commerce in the interest of promoting the welfare of the masses. He sanctioned both private property and its privileges as long as they were used to promote the welfare of the masses."

"The man who was born Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, and who died in poverty surrounded by a group of young disciples who looked upon him as the prophet of a new religion, must be considered something of an eccentric, as was Fourier, his younger contemporary. But, unlike the latter, whose origins and behavior were utterly bourgeois, Saint-Simon led a life as a cavalier as the name he renounced."

"Yet ideas about forcible equalization of status and property were catching the imagination of others. Although Napoleon Bonaparte imposed a personal dictatorship in 1799, France remained a forcing bed for revolutionary ideas well into the nineteenth century. Among the influential figures was Henry de St Simon. He and his followers called for the gathering of ‘instruments of labour, land and capital in a social fund.’ Hereditary wealth was to be expropriated. St Simon aimed at creating a vast ‘association of toilers’ who would be organized from above. They would be assigned tasks according to their talent and rewarded according to their work. St Simon’ doctrine envisaged an end to war and the start of an endless era of plenty for humankind. This was meant to come about through dutiful propaganda."

"In the bourgeois' world, ... if some respect was shown to God, it was on condition that he in turn would respect the general laws governing the universe and refrain from acting contrary to the plans of the middle class, who used their reason and demanded their share in the governance of the world."

"Gradually disbelief became respectable. It acquired a moral character. By the mere fact that it was an integral part of the consciousness of a class—of the bourgeoisie—it became bourgeois. From an individual phenomenon, or a phenomenon confined to certain isolated groups, it became an expression of collective life."

"The Church would have liked to turn to each of those thousand unbelievers separately, to show him that he was wrong, that he had allowed himself to be led astray by his passions, that he had everything to fear in the next life, and so forth. But it was not he, really, who had become disbelieving, it was his whole class, and it was his class consciousness which replied for him when he was addressed individually."

"Was he a sinner? Possibly. But could his class, the bourgeoisie, be condemned as a whole? The Church did not realize how secure he felt when it spoke to him of damnation. Would God send a whole class to hell, the class of the respectable? Who, then, would be in heaven? The common people? That would be hard to imagine!"

"The bourgeois ... considered the philosophes to be his true guides, which did not prevent him from taking good care not to adopt their teachings once he realized they might be damaging to the interests of his class. ... He seemed quite disposed to make his peace with the Church, now that he was sure of being sufficiently emancipated to be able to live his life as he chose. To go farther, he feared, would to to act contrary to the interests of his class, for disbelief, by spreading among the people, might eventually endanger the principles of the social order which the bourgeoisie needed to establish its domination."

"The Church, sensing that the middle class was slipping out of its grasp, certainly tried to create patterns of living which would enable the bourgeois to remain a bourgeois as well as a Christian; that is, to carry out his economic and social functions while preserving the features of a son of the Church. But it never succeeded in hallowing the aspirations of the new middle class by giving them a religious basis."

"We might say that before the French demanded a charter from their sovereign, French Catholics had demanded one of their God. It was understood that God must be just, that he had certain obligations toward men, and that certain reciprocal relations had to be established between creature and Creator."

"The worldly-minded ... were unable to see why God should not give men their due if men, on their part, fulfilled their obligations. ... A new man had emerged. He was demanding his rights; he was conscious of his importance. As he was before men, so would he be before God. What he had acquired materially or morally was his own, his very own, and neither king nor God might dispute his possession with him. He loved his God as he loved his king, but on condition that both respected his rights."

"The new man, wishing to enjoy his independence, needed a God with limited powers, a God whose authority was regulated by fundamental laws, so that the sinner, when summoned before the throne of the last judgment, might plead his cause, documents in hand."

"Such, then, was the God of the worldly-minded, who would be grateful that he had organized the things of this world so that everything was in accordance with laws which they could understand, and that he did not interfere in their decisions when, as prudent and reasonable men, they wished to order their own destinies."

"“Scripture and the Fathers recognize only two principles of all human actions,” says Bishop Colbert, “charity, the principle of all good actions; cupidity, the principle of all bad ones. The Jesuits, on the contrary, introduce a host of principles of human actions.” There would thus be actions which were neither good nor evil, “an innumerable multitude of indifferent actions, of no consequence either for good or for ill.” ... Thus man would have constituted for himself a sphere where there was no longer any question between himself and God either of sin or of virtue. ... God, at the last judgment, would not ask him to account for actions which were unrelated to his salvation and which did not concern the divinity. In that area, the Christian would enjoy a legitimate freedom, without fear of constantly sinning; he would be a sinner only when the occasion of sin arose, in specific cases. The rest of the time he would live between heaven and hell, between charity and concupiscence."

"Nothing, then, would prevent him henceforth from living his life, a purely secular life, according to his nature and his habits, without having to ask himself at every moment whether what he had done was displeasing to God or not. And since he was no longer the sinner whose life, as soon as he acted by his own powers, was but sin, he would be able to enumerate separately the sins which he had committed on a particular occasion."

"“They want to find an imaginary mean between cupidity and charity,” says Arnaud, “as though our love could end and rest in any object other than God, this being charity, or in the creature, this being cupidity.” In this “imaginary mean” the new man had now established himself, and spent the greater part of his life; it was his spiritual homeland on earth. There he created habits for himself and made laws; he felt at ease and found ways of being virtuous and useful to his neighbors. God would not be angry with him for acting according to his own rules. Thus the worldly man was able to live perfectly well without thinking of a God who had formerly wanted everything done for his sake alone."

"The bourgeois, for his part, possessed neither of the inordinate ambitions of the great nor of the patience of the poor, would seem to have to remain ignorant both of the sins of whose who exalted themselves and of the merits of those who humbled themselves. Bossuet, speaking of this world, complains that the "license of great fortunes exceeds all bounds." This, he says, leads to "those prevailing sins which are not satisfied to be tolerated, or even excused, but which seek even to be applauded.""

"Did all these concerns in which the bourgeois was engaged really need external hallowing? They contained their own built-in standards, and the bourgeois was unwilling to recognize any other. If religion was to signify anything in his life, it would have to connect with that life itself, exalt the motives which determined it, not only tolerate them or approve them from a distance, but penetrate them and model itself on the very special morality which governed it."

"As soon as he did not work, the poor man, whose poverty had sufficed to create his title in the world of pious legend, who had been regarded as bearing a sacred character because he symbolized the great affliction of mankind, was no longer the good friend of Jesus Christ. There was thus a type of poor whom Jesus Christ did not recognize, any more than the police did."

"The Church must preach to the bourgeois on his duties, must reveal to him values that were more especially his own, must set the seal of divine approval on his efforts, on his work; and, satisfied with himself, he would be no less so with God and with his Church. ... The Church must not present him with far-ranging concepts or try to raise him out of his own sphere but, rather, talk to him of the daily round, of the minute concerns of life, and tell him that God required no more of him. That was what the Jesuits realized very clearly."

"We might easily pursue these contrasts between bourgeois of the Jansenist school and those of the Jesuit school. One, of upright and rigid character, was himself in the various occupations of daily life; the other had the personality of his state, which would make of him less a moral personality than a socially determined being, subject to rules which it would be improper and unChristian not to observe, the "first duty of probity" always being, as Père Bourdaloue puts it, to "submit to authority." So that while the disciple of the Jesuit Fathers might be a reliable man, who most probably would always remain prudently within the confines of mediocrity, the disciple of the Jansenists might sometimes indulge in eccentricities. He was less reliable; he might take the counsels of perfection literally, and not be so docile. Under a middle-class exterior, he might often conceal a romantic spirit, preserving a predilection for the heroic feats of olden times."

"Since the God of the Christians blessed and rewarded toil, there was nothing, surely, to prevent him from approving the effort of the bourgeois. True, the bourgeois' wealth was often far from being the product of his own labor, but he always liked be told that it was, and if he was to be made a Christian it was necessary to insist on this point."

"In its glorification of the spirit of order, the Church seemed to be giving its sanction to the type of bourgeois who was concerned to fulfill his duties scrupulously and content to remain within his own sphere. But this bourgeois, whom modern eighteenth-century society certainly could not dispense with, was far from summing up in himself the whole spirit of his class. There was another type of bourgeois who had nothing about him of a monk transplanted into an office. He was energetic, pushing, by no means content to confine himself to a life rhythmically punctuated by work; rather, he was concerned to grow, to achieve power and wealth through his own effort. But what would the Church say of this bourgeois who was to become the monarch of the modern age? It did not like him; it could not like him; the impulse that moved him was too contrary to its own. He seemed intent on flouting God; trusting in his own strength, he seemed to want to organize his life independently of the plans of Divine Providence."

"Huizinga alone might be said to match Groethuysen in conveying a sense of the spiritual distance needing to be covered before everyday men could innocently proceed to go about the tasks in the everyday world with the simple conviction that their everyday minds were the true and honest measure of everything that came their way."

"On l'a tuée à coups de chassepot A coups de mitrailleuse, Et roulée avec son drapeau Dans la terre argileuse. Et la tourbe des bourreaux gras Se croyait la plus forte. Tout ça n'empêche pas, Nicolas Qu'la Commune n'est pas morte."

"Debout, les damnés de la terre Debout, les forçats de la faim La raison tonne en son cratère C'est l'éruption de la fin Du passé faisons table rase Foule esclave, debout, debout Le monde va changer de base Nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout."

"C'est la lutte finale Groupons-nous, et demain L'Internationale Sera le genre humain."

"Il n'est pas de sauveurs suprêmes Ni Dieu, ni César, ni tribun Producteurs, sauvons-nous nous-mêmes Décrétons le salut commun Pour que le voleur rende gorge Pour tirer l'esprit du cachot Soufflons nous-mêmes notre forge Battons le fer quand il est chaud."

"L'État comprime et la loi triche L'impôt saigne le malheureux Nul devoir ne s'impose au riche Le droit du pauvre est un mot creux C'est assez, languir en tutelle L'égalité veut d'autres lois Pas de droits sans devoirs dit-elle Égaux, pas de devoirs sans droits."

"Les rois nous saoulaient de fumées Paix entre nous, guerre aux tyrans Appliquons la grève aux armées Crosse en l'air, et rompons les rangs S'ils s'obstinent, ces cannibales À faire de nous des héros Ils sauront bientôt que nos balles Sont pour nos propres généraux."

"Ouvriers, paysans, nous sommes Le grand parti des travailleurs La terre n'appartient qu'aux hommes L'oisif ira loger ailleurs Combien de nos chairs se repaissent Mais si les corbeaux, les vautours Un de ces matins disparaissent Le soleil brillera toujours."

"The fate of all founders of moral and religious schools did not escape Tolstoy. He had three types of disciples: those of one type looked after their own internal improvement and had, so to say, a poor opinion of all practical actions. They are the followers of the letter of the law. Very rarely does one encounter persons like this among Tolstoyans. Those of another type left their studies or privileged situations and went to live among the people, maintaining themselves by farming or the trades. They are the men of goodwill on humankind's labor front. Those of the third and final type do not reject their special skills, through which they serve the people and true progress. They are the friends of the people."

"In the spiritual world, just as in the physical world, nothing is lost. Where an ember quietly glows, even a breeze can fan a blaze. Just as he instructed me, Tolstoy's powerful call touched millions of hearts and intellects."

"“Leo Nicolayevich, what is madness?” I asked him … The reply followed. “It is selfishness,” he explained, “the narrowing of one's attention to oneself and afterward to any single idea.”"

"Nature is like a woman worthy of being placed on a pedestal. In order fully to understand and appreciate her, it is necessary to live with her a long time in intimate proximity."

"Persistent and undiscerning almost to the point of criminality as far as resources were concerned, this woman [Sophia Tolstaya] was of immeasurable hindrance to her husband, her children and humankind as a whole."

"A genius, an eighty-two year-old thinker and author, loved and respected by the whole world, having to flee like a criminal from his own home! To flee from the bottomless abyss created between persons having dissimilar guiding instincts! Through the cold impenetrable autumn night, Tolstoy ran alone to the nearest stable through the large apple orchard. And behind him, the terrifying specter of being caught and again made to drown in the insufferable surroundings in which he had been suffocated for all of thirty years! Before him, finally, lay moral freedom, so long and so earnestly awaited! Finally, the possibility, though not for long, though only until death, of relief from the pressures on his mind! The possibility of carrying out his much revered duty before his conscience and before toiling humankind! He had been hindered in life. Now he can at last succeed in dying with dignity."

"During this summer [of 1906] the strain between Father and Mother grew deeper. … A young Tolstoyan by the name of Lebrun, whom Father loved very much, lived with us at this time and helped Father."

"Some time ago I was asked to sign a petition in defense of Robert Faurisson’s “freedom of speech and expression.” The petition said absolutely nothing about the character, quality or validity of his research, but restricted itself quite explicitly to a defense of elementary rights that are taken for granted in democratic societies, calling upon university and government officials to “do everything possible to ensure the [Faurisson’s] safety and the free exercise of his legal rights.” I signed it without hesitation."

"I see no anti-Semitic implications in denial of the existence of gas chambers, or even denial of the Holocaust I see no hint of anti-Semitic implications in Faurisson's work relatively apolitical liberal of some sort"

"While some may regard Chomsky as an eminent linguist, he does not understand the most obvious meaning ofwords in context. To fail to see any "hint of anti-Semitic implications" in Faurisson's collective condemnation of the Jewish people as liars is to be either a fool or a knave. Failure to recognize the anti-Semitic implications of Holocaust denial is like saying there would be no racist implications in a claim that Blacks enjoyed slavery, or no sexist implications in a statement that women want to be raped. The Holocaust is the central historical event of modern Jewish history. Efforts to deny or minimize it are the current tools of the anti-semite and neo-Nazi. Not surprising, both Faurisson and Chomsky are frequently quoted with approval by these hatemongers."

"Faurisson, a specialist of the many forged pseudo-ancient narratives produced during the Romantic period to give a country a glorious past depicted in an epic of its own, like Ossian for Scotland or the Ura Linda Book for Frisia, started his negationist career with the claim that the Diary of Anne Frank was -- you guessed it -- a forgery..... Faurisson wanted to take it a step further, though: he denied the veracity of the diary. It was the girl’s father who, after his return in 1945 to Amsterdam, had edited the diary before publishing it, and he had left out some passages he deemed inconvenient, especially about the sexual awakening of his pubescent daughter. Even so, this petty fault-finding left the girl’s report about the persecution of the Jews entirely unchallenged. This will remain a common scenario in the negationist movement: focusing on marginal elements that are convenient and obscuring what proves the genocide. This is not uncommon among polemicists defending any cause, but the grimness of the case makes it more serious here."

"I waited so long to tell this story partly because when I started to make comics I didn’t want to be the guy of Arab origin who makes comics about Arab people…I didn’t want to be the official Arab comics artist. So I made a lot of comics in France which weren’t related to this part of me. I made a movie. But even during all that other work, I was thinking I have this good story, how could I tell it?"

"So the reader thinks: “My God, this man is saying horrible things in front of a child!”…It’s more sincere ... I wanted to try to describe the dark side and the positive side – if there was a positive side – all together ... I wanted to express the paradox that was in my father between modernity and tradition. It is a very common and human paradox. How can you be modern and progressive and still respect ancestral tradition? It generates conflict in the mind, I think."

"I don’t want to read modern comics, comics that are made today. I take care not to read too many contemporary comics, because I’m afraid it will influence me. Or it will complex me in a way. I see someone doing something great and I will say, “Oh, my god, I am shit — what am I doing?” So I prefer not to read them. Sometimes, when it appears to be incredible, I will read it — but I’m very afraid of reading modern comics. I read only old things and things I liked when I was young…"

"I tried not to generalize. But a lot of guys are like my father. He came from a poor family — the gap between where he started and where he ended up as a doctor was too big, and he was thinking he had a destiny! He was a little bit crazy. And he was so proud of this. He also hated Israel. It was a huge humiliation for him and his friends — the defeats by Israel. It was like a personal defeat. So he hated the United States, of course; he hated Europe because they had good relations with Israel. It was, like, biblical. As if Europe and the United States prefer the Jew to the Arab. And he wanted to say, “But I am as intelligent as them.” It was very strange."

"(What’s the last great book you read?) ...I tore through two volumes of “The Arab of the Future,” by Riad Sattouf — it’s the most enjoyable graphic novel I’ve read in a while."

"I have found heaven on earth, since heaven is God and God is in my soul. The day I understood that, everything became clear to me, and I would like to share this secret with all those I love so that they, too, might cling to God through everything, so that this prayer of Christ might be fulfilled: "Father, may they be made perfectly one!""

""Remain in Me." It is the Word of God who gives this order, expresses this wish. Remain in Me, not for a few moments, a few hours which must pass away, but "remain..." permanently, habitually, Remain in Me, pray in Me, adore in Me, love in Me, suffer in Me, work and act in Me."

""Abyss calls to abyss." It is there in the very depths that the divine impact takes place, where the abyss of our nothingness encounters the Abyss of mercy, the immensity of the all of God. There we will find the strength to die to ourselves and, losing all vestige of self, we will be changed into love."

""Because I love My Father, I do always the things that are pleasing to Him." Thus spoke our holy Master, and every soul who wants to live close to Him must also live this maxim. The divine good pleasure must be its food, its daily bread; it must let itself be immolated by all the Father's wishes in the likeness of His adored Christ. Each incident, each event, each suffering, as well as each joy, is a sacrament which gives God to it; so it no longer makes a distinction between these things; it surmounts them, goes beyond them to rest in its Master, above all things."

"If Greek culture has influenced Western civilization, we must not forget that, in spite of the inestimable benefits of Greece to India, the ancient Greeks themselves were also sons of Hindu thought. As has already been mentioned, Pythagoras went to India in order to draw from the very source the principles which constituted the foundation of his doctrine and which in its turn influenced Plato, Socrates and even Aristotle to a certain degree. Apollonius of Tyanae, Plotin, did they not follow in the footprints of their predecessors, in directing themselves towards far-off India? China, Persia, Islam – the three-fourths of Asia – these civilizations which had already been influenced by the missions of Asoka, were they not attracted by India’s wisdom? That is the reason why ancient India is our Mother. In the measure that we Westerners make our intellectual and spiritual genealogy reach back to India shall we learn to love her and to consider in its true light her wisdom, the patrimony of every man."

"It is a fact, whether we wish to accept it or not, that India is the Mother of all of us. She has given us everything: religion, philosophy, science, art. All that has been truly great, noble, and generous, throughout the ages has come from India. At this moment when a hurricane of violence and hate is raging across the world, and will rage still more through the world of the future, making the very frame-work of our civilization crack, at this moment when intellectual and moral values are being trampled upon by the hordes of egotism, brutality, and lying, let us go together, towards India from whom we can learn so much."

"I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults, who, at best, know only a fraction of what they say. The reason is simply that children know everything with their whole beings, while we know it only with our heads."

"The men over thirty round about us were afraid: for their wives and their children — these were real reasons; but also for their possessions, their position, and that is what made us angry; above all for their lives, which they clung to much more than we did to ours. We were less frightened than they were. The years ahead would prove the point. Four-fifths of the Resistance in France was the work of men less than thirty years old."

"Friendship was salvation, in this fragile world the only thing left that was not fragile. I promise you one can be drunk on friendship as well as on love."

"fear kills, and joy maintains life."

"Throw yourself into each moment as if it were the only one that really existed. Work and work hard."

"Dancing on a tightrope requires that one maintain an equilibrium from one moment to the next by recreating it at every step by means of new adjustments; it requires one to maintain a balance that is never permanently acquired; constant readjustments renews the balance while giving the impression of ‘keeping it’."

"The court and the affairs of the Bijapur kingdom were, at this time, in a flourishing state. An ambassador from the Great Mughal had just arrived…After some days of rejoicings and fetes, the ambassador was conducted to the Hall of Audience, where the young King of Bijapur was already seated on his throne…He then told them that the Great Mughal, his master and the sovereign of all India, had sent him to convey his felicitations on the fine and illustrious government of this state, and as their kingdom was so powerful and rich, to ask for their cooperation, so as to increase their glory, which should always be the principal aim of the princes and nobles. It was fortunate that they could now justly undertake an unavoidable war at a time when there were no internal troubles. It was shameful to see the daily successes of Prince Shivaji, who, from being a simple minister of state in this same kingdom of Bijapur [Shivaji was never minister in Bijapur, his father entered service in the state in 1636], had risen today to such high fortune and grandeur that all the other Indian powers trembled before him. He had become master of the best part of this kingdom, namely its coasts and maritime frontiers. He had pillaged and sacked the richest towns of his king, the Mughal; he had taken the strongest places of the country; and no rivers, mountains, or forts, had yet been able to stem the progress of his enterprises and plans. Finally, if these ravages and continual successes were not opposed, he would become the most powerful king in the Orient. It was necessary, therefore, for them to provide the force of 14,000 horse and 10,000 foot, demanded by his master, the Great Mughal, in order to make a determined attack on the coastal towns and other places usurped by him, while the army of the Mughal would march against Shivaji from another side. To finance this war, they could use the amount of the annual tribute, a considerable sum which they were obliged to pay the Mughal."

"After the audience Khawass Khan summoned the princes and nobles several times to discuss this demand. They held many councils, and found the ambassador’s proposals to their advantage. They decided on war and appointed many generals and officers, who were at once sent on every side to raise levies of soldiers as soon as possible, so that in next to no time the town of Bijapur was in a tremendous uproar. The place was not large enough to train the cavalry which arrived from all parts. One heard nothing in the streets but the noise of drums and trumpets, and the shouts of these martial heroes. Each vizir and general armed his elephants in such a way as to make an appalling noise. They had war-machines on their backs with chains and other iron instruments, which are used in battle by these formidable animals at the will of those who ride them. The rich trapping of gold, silver, and precious stones, displayed on harness, arms and other equipment, seemed more in keeping with some great fete, tournament, or public procession than with a war."

"Prince Shivaji did not lack information from his secret intelligence, which he had all over India. He made little of all these preparations and plans against him, and like a second Alexander, told his soldiers that the more his enemies had of luxury, splendid appointments, and gorgeous trappings, the less mettle and courage they would have; and that he preferred to see his men covered with iron and steel, which are the true ornaments of every soldier. Moreover, he had so many ruses and tricks that his enemies had great difficulty in avoiding them. His plans were never known and, when he was thought to be in one place with all his forces, he surprised everyone by a venture quite the opposite to the one expected. He had for some months been at the gates of Surat, whence most people had fled. It was considered certain that from there he would make for Ahmadabad, one of the richest and most powerful Mughal towns; and at a time when the assurance of his march thither was causing great alarm in those places, everyone was amazed to hear he was at the gates of Golconda [1672], where he summoned the king to send him two millions of pagodas, or else to come out and fight in order to prevent his victorious entry into the capital and its delivery to his army for pillage. The King of Golconda was so terror-struck that he at once sent the sum of money demanded. He was in no state even to defend his royal town, where only merchants and court gallants were available, all his forces being engaged in the siege of St. Thome against the French. The latter fact was well known all over the East, and gave Prince Shivaji the opportunity of making this coup d’etat. He was advised to take this course on account of the help it would give the French, with whom he was very friendly, for by reducing the finances of the king he would deprive him of the principal means of continuing his war against them."

"After this exploit Shivaji, despising all the expeditions and armies that were being prepared against him, withdrew to his own country, and, as a diversion, visited all his places and fortresses where provisions and munitions of war were kept. Most of them were so strong, steep and inaccessible that only a faithful governor and a small garrison were needed to defend them against the most powerful Eastern forces. Shivaji thought so little of the Bijapur state’s warlike preparations against him that he left at once with a flying camp and conquered some frontier posts of that kingdom, which are so near Goa that only a river separates them [raid on Kanara 1673]. The Portuguese are very uneasy at finding themselves neighbours of this powerful and redoubtable prince, who presses them so closely on every side that they can hardly leave their towns without entering his territories; and Shivaji thus threatens to complete their abasement."

"We arrived at Abdelpour [Afzalpur] a little before nightfall after a whole day’s march. It is a delightful town, situated in a fertile lowland with large meadows watered by a stream, which flows through the sluice of a large reservoir above the town: its water is confined by a curved embankment faced with stone, a work which well shows the power and magnificence of its builder, the nobleman of the place [Afzal Khan]. He was one of the greatest warriors and best generals in the kingdom of Bijapur in the reign of its rightful king, who was poisoned by his unfaithful wife [in the reign of Muhammad Adil Shah, 1626-56]. This governor was indeed a powerful and courageous vizir, who had done many splendid things for the good of the kingdom. Later on he retired to this town of Afzalpur, which had been granted to him, and lived here in great state and comfort in a magnificent castle. He was at ease here when the last Bijapur king sent an army against Prince Shivaji under Rustam Zaman, governor of Onquery [Hukeri]. He was summoned to the court and made a general of 15,000 horse, which were again sent to fight Shivaji. He resolutely promised the king to conquer the enemy or die in the attempt. But before leaving he committed an act, which was the most cruel and detestable it is possible to imagine. This man, like all those orientals whose chief pleasure in the world is to pass their lives among flocks of women, and being one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom, had a fine seraglio of 200 women, to whom he was so passionately attached that he could not bring himself to leave them. Inspired by a mad jealousy, he resolved that no one else should see or enjoy the treasures he guarded so dearly, in the event of his death in battle. Therefore, when the time for his departure came, he left the court and went to Afzalpur to settle his household affairs. He stayed there three days, shut up in his seraglio, to feast and disport himself for the last time with his wives. He then actually had them all murdered and thrown into a fire, which he had prepared for this purpose in the middle of his palace. After this noble exploit, which was the last of his life, he left without any remorse, breathing fire and slaughter against the enemy. They soon made him rue this infamous cruelty towards a sex from whom he had always received favours, submission, and a blind obedience to his will."

"Prince Shivaji, who had received warning of his march, went to meet him and placed all his forces in a favourable position to await attack. Both armies were in sight of one another; and the two generals, the most valiant warriors in the East, did wonders in moving their squadrons so as to seize hills and other points of vantage. The whole country swarmed with cavalry, elephants, camels carrying thousands of standards, to which each company could rally. Shivaji, on his side, encouraged his men by voice and action, showing himself in every part of his camp. In passing down their ranks, he urged them to remember that they were soldiers, brothers in arms, and companions in fortune, of the great Shivaji; that they must never fear enemies whom they had beaten so often, and who were more ready to retreat in an emergency than to attack and give a good account of themselves. He added that, if the enemy’s general was once the bravest man in the kingdom and had won great victories, it was at a time when he cared only for the art of war; now he had embraced another sort of life amid the pleasures and delights of the world, so that he had lost all his former redoubtable qualities, and become cowardly and effeminate. Shivaji’s soldiers were roused by his speech, and the camp rang on all sides with shouts and acclamations, which struck terror and panic into the hearts of the most courageous of their opponents. The latter knew that they had to do with an army which had made every oriental power tremble by reason of its ever increasing victories and conquests. They shivered at the mere sight of these terrible people, against whom they fought more unwillingly than they would have done against another less redoubtable army."

"Both sides were awaiting the signal to attack, when two heralds were seen issuing from Shivaji’s camp. They asked the general to come for a quarter of an hour’s interview with that prince, who wished to communicate something of importance before the battle commenced. The general agreed to this, and it was arranged that they should both meet, unarmed, between the two armies with an escort of only two soldiers, who were to stand a little aside, so as not to hear the conversation. Shivaji spoke first and said to the other that he was well aware of his valour, his merits, and the glory he had acquired in his warlike career; also he had not forgotten the many courageous actions that had won him such a splendid reputation in his kingdom. Therefore he had been compelled to bring all his forces against him, in order to have the glory of vanquishing such a fine army as his, as he had no doubt of doing. But the real reason for which he had requested the interview before the battle was to demand the dismissal of a man in that army who did not merit the glory and honour of a soldier’s death. The general, astonished at Shivaji’s speech, asked who was the man that he wished to exclude from the glory of battle. “It is yourself, sir,” he replied, “you, who have lost all your former glory and the reputation you had acquired by your arms through your last action in massacring and burning two hundred poor women in such a brutal, inhuman and cowardly manner. You do not deserve to be conquered by force of arms, but rather to be chastised and punished in a manner worthy of your infamous action.” He then drew a poisoned knife, which he had hidden in the folds of his belt, and plunging it three times into his body, stretched him dead at his feet."

"Shivaji’s generals, who had been given this coup for a cue, then charged the enemy so promptly that the first squadrons were cut in pieces, and the rest, being panic stricken, surrendered to their conqueror. The general’s son and six of his principal officers were taken prisoner and brought to the king. They begged for quarter for the rest of their troops, who were being massacred without mercy. Shivaji then stopped the carnage and, having surrounded the rest of the enemy, promised them quarter and good rewards, if they would enter his service and swear an oath of fidelity. They were all delighted, and with one voice declared that they would be glad to fight, and pass the rest of their lives, under the standard of the greatest captain in all the East. He accordingly reinstated all the captains and officers in their appointments, and returned victorious from a battle in which he had lost but few of his own men. Before leaving the field, he ordered some camp-followers of the enemy to take the body of their general, which he made them honourably place in one of his palanquins, after covering it with black [Afzal Khan’s decapitated head was taken to Shivaji’s fort at Pratapgarh and buried there]. He sent it to the nearest town, to which some companies of cavalry had fled. They joined the cortege and escorted it to Afzalpur, where a magnificent tomb was erected for him on the very spot where his unfortunate wives had been buried."

"is known throughout the world as the most renowned example of the prodigious rise and frightful fall of a favorite, who of fortune of him. (volume III, book VI, p. 7)"

"Sejano had everything that was necessary to train those great villains, authors of the overthrow of states and of the most terrible revolutions. A body of the strongest and most robust to tolerate fatigue: an immoderate audacity, combined with a profound dissimulation: the talent of making oneself acceptable and dear, and of discrediting and degrading others: he knew how to make equal use of flattery and arrogance according to need: he showed an external air of modesty, while internally he was devoured by the desire to reign. And to succeed he sometimes employed liberality, and the lure of luxury and debauchery, most often activity and vigilance, qualities commendable in themselves, but which become extremely , when they are not he pretends to have them only to satisfy ambition. (volume III, book VI, pp. 8-9)"

"This famous man, [Gnaeus Domitius Afro] often praised by Quintilian as the greatest orator he had heard, was born in Nimes, a Roman colony, and having moved to Rome to improve his fortune, he was currently walking the path of honors. He had been Praetor a short time before; but since he held only a mediocre rank in the City, he sought opportunities to make a name for himself at whatever cost. He therefore accused Claudia [Pulcra, great-granddaughter of Augustus] of adultery with Furnius, of spells, and of magical operations directed against the Emperor. (volume III, book VI, pp. 29-30)"

"It was more difficult to gain access to Sejano than to the Emperor. The favor of an audience with this insolent Minister was only obtained with very warm requests, and with the willingness to serve him in his ambitious projects. It is stated that the spectacle of the servants, exhibited on this occasion before his eyes, greatly increased his arrogance. (volume III, book VI, pp. 44)"

"[...] History does not instruct only with the story of virtues: it presents of every , but always lessons, when one knows how to take advantage of them. (volume III, book VII, pp. 139)"

"[Caligula] No Prince ever found more favorable dispositions in those who had to obey him when he ascended the Throne. He was loved by the Armies and the Provinces, who almost all had seen him as a child in the company of his father Germanicus, whom he accompanied not only to the Rhine, but also to the East. The incredible love of the Roman People for Germanicus fell on his son, and the misfortunes of his family had made this feeling even more tender: by adding that of commiseration. He emerged from a tyranny, under which he had groaned for a long time, and the hatred against Tiberius changed into affection for Cajo Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus known as Caligula. . (volume III, book VII, pp. 143)"

"had none of those vices which directly society, and he also possessed to a high degree the contrary virtues, modesty, clemency, the love of justice, and the alienation of pomp, and a judicious liberality, which found inexhaustible sources in his wise and prudent economy. Humankind, happy under his Government, has given him to share his recognition with an esteem and admiration that still exists today. (volume IX, book XVIII, p. 43)"

"[Trajano] I have spoken more than once of his passion for wine, by which he was, according to one Author, obliged to take the precaution of forbidding the execution of the orders, which he gave after a long lunch. His unnatural debaucheries must cover him with eternal infamy. I also venture to count among his defects his insatiable ardor for the war, the good events of which made him rise in pride, and the sinister successes of which caused him great affliction in the last years of his life. (volume IX, book XVIII, p. 44)"

"Commodus had demonstrated himself from his early years as he was later to progress: devoid of elevation of soul, feeling, and courage, succumbing to all bad impressions, and contumacious to any kind of good , which we wanted to inspire him; a very strong inclination to pleasure, and a violent aversion to fatigue. If he had any ability, he had it only for those things, which did not befit his rank. He knew how to joust, dance and sing: he was a comedian and gladiator. But the teachers that his father placed around him to form his intellect and heart, and the lessons of wisdom and virtue that he himself gave him, found neither input nor good will in this Prince. (volume X, book XX, p. 10)"

"Cleandro was part of all the pleasures, or rather, of all the debaucheries of Commodus, and having thus gained his confidence, he was for some time the rival of Perenne, and in the end supported by the faction of the freedmen of the palace, of which he was the leader, he came to ruin it. Heir to his power, he abused it with all the wickedness typical of a vile soul, and brought into the ministry all the vices of a servile condition. Everything was for sale with him, the positions of the Senators, the commands of the army, the governments of the Provinces, and the Prefectures, and he was paid dearly for them. (volume X, book XXI, p. 74)"

"To multiply his earnings, Cleander multiplied his offices, and appointed, which had never been seen before, twenty-five Consuls for a single year. He respected neither the Laws nor things judged. Anyone who had money to give him was sure to be acquitted, an ancient form of part. past of absolve . </ ref>, whatever crime he had committed; or reinstated, if he had previously been convicted, and very often still with increased dignity and splendor. (volume X, book XXI, p. 75)"

"[Cleander] he did not immediately take up the position of Prefect of the Praetorium, too disproportionate to the baseness of his condition, but paved the way for it by degrading it and degrading it with frequent changes. He made and unmade the Praetorian Prefects as he pleased. He had one that lasted five days, and another that lasted six hours. Finally, when Cleander believed he had reduced this powerful office in proportion to his rank, he conferred it on himself, taking two colleagues, who were his creatures, and who depended entirely on him. Then three Praetorian Prefects were seen for the first time. (volume X, book XXI, p. 76)"

"The glory of Pertinax equaled and even surpassed the splendor of his dignities. He had proven himself equally capable of military and civilian employment. A good and skilled warrior, his name had become the terror of the Barbarians; and he had at the same time been able to maintain discipline with severity among the restless and seditious troops. In the Government of Rome he conducted himself with such sweetness, affability and goodness that he won the love of everyone. Simple model with such a sign, which even then recognized Lolliano Avito as his protector This senator from Vittore is called Lollio Genziano. But he is certainly the same one that Capitolinus in the life of Pertinax n. 1 names Lolliano Avito. [N.d.A.] </ Ref>, to whom he had become at least equal, but for whom he always retained great reverence and gratitude, having been the first author of his fortune; enemy of luxury, and lover of frugality, History accuses him of nothing other than excessive economy, and the habit of promising more than he intended to keep in order to please with nice words those whom he could not satisfy with Opera. (volume X, book XXI, p. 108)"

"[Pertinax] The esteem for his virtue was universal. When the news of the death of Commodus and the election of Pertinax reached the Provinces, the people hesitated to believe it. They feared that this was not a trap set by Commodus to have the opportunity to exercise his cruelties and his robberies. In that uncertainty many Governors took the decision to wait for the confirmation, and also to have the couriers imprisoned, being certain that if the news were true, Pertinax would have quickly forgiven them for a fault, which did not proceed from bad will. The peoples allied to the Empire had no less advantageous ideas of him. His filled him with joy; and they sent ambassadors to congratulate the Senate and the Roman people. (volume X, book XXI, p. 117)"

"If Niger was a severe General towards his soldiers, on the other hand he was their protector against injustice. The Roman soldiers were in a certain way of those who commanded them, and the custom had been introduced for them to pay certain supposed taxes, which degenerated into harassment. He suppressed these exactions in the army of which he had command; he forbade the to receive anything from their soldiers, and had two of them stoned to death, who had been guilty of this sort of extortion against his prohibition. He frequently had a beautiful saying on this subject. He said that an Officer must make himself feared and respected by his soldiers, and that he can never obtain this unless he is without fault and without blemish in what concerns interest. (volume X, book XXII, p. 153)"

"Jean-Baptiste-Louis Crevier, History of the Roman emperors from Augustus to Constantine, volume III, for Francesco Rossi stamp. of the Public, Siena, C.E.1777."

"The crit is a soldier who fires on his troops. Quoted in"

"Never be satisfied: art is all here."

""I don't get involved in politics" is like saying "I don't deal with life". , ilsole24ore.com."

"When I think of all the books I have left to read, I am sure that I am still happy."

"If you want to win the sympathy of women tell them the things you wouldn't want men to say to your wife."

"Baudelaire: his heavy phrase, loaded with electric fluids. (C.E.1887; Vergani, p. 11)"

"If even the slightest truth could come out of a discussion, there would be less discussion. Nothing is more depressing than understanding each other: once you have understood each other, there is nothing more to say to each other. (October 24, C.E.1887; Vergani, p. 12)"

"The most beautiful pages about the campaign are written in the middle of the city. (November 25, C.E.1887; Vergani, p. 13)"

"Work thinks, laziness dreams. It has its own very bad way of being good. (December 27, C.E.1887; Vergani, p. 13)"

"How many people wanted to kill themselves and instead limited themselves to tearing up their photographs! (December 29, C.E.1888; Vergani, p. 15)"

"Depicts the ideal of calm with the image of a cat sitting. (January 30, C.E.1889; Vergani, p. 16)"

"The most stupid exaggeration is that of tears. It's as annoying as a faucet that won't close. (March 29, C.E.1889; p. 17)"

"Horror of the bourgeois is a bourgeois attitude. (April 10, 1889; Vergani, p. 18)"

"Do we have a destiny? How boring not to know! How boring it would be if you knew! (January 14, C.E.1889; Vergani, p. 19)"

"The sleep is the square of memories. Help their return. (August 30, C.E.1889; Vergani, p. 21)"

"I love men more or less, depending on the amount of annotations I can get out of them. (November 25, C.E.1889; Vergani, p. 32)"

"You can be poet and have short hair. You can be a poet and pay your rent regularly. You can be a poet and make love to your wife. (January 2, C.E.1890; p. 33)"

"It is necessary to operate through dissociation and not through the association of ideas. An association is almost always trivial. Dissociation, by breaking down, discovers hidden affinities. (January 24, C.E.1890; Vergani, p. 33)"

"The bourgeois, are the others. (January 28, C.E.1890; Vergani, p. 33)"

"You enter a book like a train, with a few glances behind you, with some hesitation and with the boredom of changing places and ideas. How will the trip go? What will the book be like? (February 15, C.E.1890; Vergani, p. 33)"

"Look for the ridiculous in everything, you will find it. (February 17, C.E.1890)"

"The beggar gaze of the actor who in all circumstances, even in the most serious, turns around to make sure that he is looked at and that he has been recognized. (February 20, C.E.1890; Vergani, p. 34)"

"praise is placed as money is placed: to be returned to us with interest. (March 18, C.E.1890; Vergani, p. 36)"

"What does it matter what I do? Ask me what I think. (April 12, C.E.1890; Vergani, p. 36)"

"The two Dumas' turned the theory of economics upside down. The father was the prodigal, and the son was the miser. (April 17, C.E.1890; Vergani, p. 36)"

"You are twenty years old from fifteen to thirty years old. (June 28, C.E.1890)"

"Mérimée is perhaps the writer who will last the longest, because he makes less use of images than all the others, this source of the old age of style. Posterity will belong to the dry writers, to the constipated writers. (August 12, C.E.1890; Vergani, p. 37)"

"Cracked plates last longer than intact plates. (September 4, C.E.1890; Vergani, p. 37)"

"No matter how whole our lives are, we can always be classified into some category of thieves. (January 10, C.E.1891; Vergani, p. 40)"

"George Sand, the Breton cow of literature. (February 23, C.E.1891; Vergani, p. 41)"

"I don't read anything for fear of finding something good. (March 7, C.E.1891; p. 43)"

"When I am shown a drawing, I look at it just long enough to prepare what I have to say about it. (March 9, C.E.1890; p. 44)"

"Balzac is perhaps the only writer who has the right to write badly. (March 23; Vergani, p. 45)"

"Style is the oblivion of all styles. (April 7, C.E.1891; Vergani, p. 46)"

"You have to take the idea that comes to you by the neck and immediately crush it on the paper. (May 7, C.E.1891; Vergani, p. 46)"

"My fear was that one day I would be nothing more than a harmless Flaubert from the drawing room. (May 7, C.E.1891; Vergani, p. 46)"

"Sir, I have seen on the butcher's bench several brains similar to yours. (October 16, C.E.1891; Vergani, p. 48)"

"I have calculated that the literature may be enough to feed a sparrow. (November 25, C.E.1891; Vergani, p. 50)"

"It is necessary for man free to take the liberty of being slave from time to time. (January 27, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 53)"

"What will save us? The faith? I don't want to have faith, and I don't want to be saved. (January 30, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 54)"

"We are all poor imbeciles (I speak for myself, of course) incapable of being good or bad for two full hours straight. (January 30; Vergani, p. 54)"

"Analyze a book! What would you say about a guest who, while eating a ripe peach, took the pieces out of his mouth to take a good look at them? (March 15, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 56)"

"I would like to feed the words in the palm of my hand. (March 26, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 56)"

"The new formula of the novel is not to make the novel. (April 6, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 56)"

"Oscar Wilde has breakfast next to me. He has the originality of being English, he gives you a cigarette, but he chooses it himself. It doesn't go around the board, but it moves an entire board. His face is covered with small red marks. He is huge and carries a huge cane stick. (April 7, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 56)"

"There are writers who don't recognize themselves, as if they don't have their noses in the middle of their faces. (April 23, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 57)"

"Irony is the modesty of humanity. (April 30, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 57)"

"The fear of boredom is the only excuse for work. (September 10, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 60)"

"When you're in a crowd, you feel like everyone is looking through your ears. (October 4, 1892; Vergani, p. 60)"

"death of others helps us to live. (October 5, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 60)"

"Verlaine, a dunghill Socrates. (October 10, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 60)"

"The rare, brief joy of hearing that there is a little bit of perfection every year. (October 28, C.E.1892; Vergani, p. 61)"

"When he praises someone, he feels like he's denigrating himself a bit. (January 11, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 63)"

"Childhood memories drawn with an unlit match. (January 22, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 63)"

"Let us work harder: let us work hard to live less and to die sooner. (March 16, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 64)"

"It is necessary to love nature and men in spite of their mud. (March 27, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 65)"

"I know: all great men, in the beginning, were misunderstood; But I'm not a great man and I'd like to be understood right away. (April 28, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 65)"

"The blessed solitude in which one can finally thoroughly wipe one's nose. (Sept. 11, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 66)"

"When he listened to the speeches of the women he seemed to be asleep, but every now and then he made a little movement with his long nonsense hunter ears. (September 15, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 66)"

"The smell of ink is enough to make my dreams die. (September 15, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 66)"

"Distinguished critic, I understand your criticism very well. Know, let it be said between us, that I don't always like myself either. (October 14, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 67)"

"children should be optional apparitions. When Fantec sees me again a fortnight later, he tells me that I have grown up. (February 4, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 72)"

"And the grasshopper that we decapitate and that, without losing their heads for so little, fly out of the window with a stroke of the wing? (March 1, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 73)"

"I will love you long enough to recognize that your pretty mole is but a wart. (March 2, C.E.1893; Vergani, p. 73)"

"I would be anarchist if I were unhappy. But I have nothing to complain about. How could one be both anarchic and satisfied? (March 6, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 74)"

"A farmer is a tree trunk that can move. (March 6, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 74)"

"Our friendship could no longer go on: we had poured too much into each other. (March 29, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 74)"

"Friends. We see each other too much, we see each other less, we don't see each other anymore. (April 9, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 74)"

"Man is an animal that rolls its eyes and sees only the spiders of the ceiling. (April 10, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 74)"

"You have to let your prose cool like a cream before tasting it. (May 7, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 75)"

"Our love for the countryside: a rustic flash in the pan. (May 11, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 75)"

"It's not enough to be happy! It is also necessary that others are not. (May 16, 1894; Vergani, p. 75)"

"My literature is like a series of letters addressed to myself, which I allow you to read. (May 17, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 76)"

"Finally here I am bald. What was my hair used for? They were certainly not an embellishment, and I was to them a prey to an ignoble being, the barber, who breathed his contempt in my face, and caressed me like a mistress, and slapped me on the cheek like a priest. (May 29, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 76)"

"The thought of being thirty exhausts me. I have a whole dead life behind me. In front of me is an opaque existence in which I foresee nothing. I feel old, and sad like an old man. (May 29, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 76)"

"My literature is a continual attempt to rectify what I feel in life, like someone feverishly consulting a book to know what needs to be done to revive the drowned man lying on the shore. (May 30, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 77)"

"All animals speak, except the parrot which "can speak". (June 14, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 77)"

"The moment the condemned person has his head stuck in the guillotine, there should be a silence before the blade falls. A Republican Guard should come out of the ranks and hand the executioner an envelope. The executioner should say to the condemned, "It is your grace!" and at the same time he should drop the blade. The condemned man would thus die happily. (June 22, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 77)"

"Small white clouds rise over there as if shearing wool on the back of hills. (July 1, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 77)"

"To be successful, you have to add water to your wine, until there is no more wine. (July 3, C.E.1894)"

"The hand that writes must always try to ignore the reading eye. (July 7, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 78)"

"I have my brain like a fresh nut and I'm waiting for a hammer blow that has to open it. (July 23, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 79)"

"Faced with the stupidity of painters one wants to learn to draw before one dies. (July 23, C.E.1894; Vergani, p. 79)"

"E Dante, who faints every moment! (March 10, C.E.1895; Vergani, p. 92)"

"Writing is a way of speaking without being interrupted. (April 13, 1895; Vergani, p. 95)"

"roosters have apoplectic crests. (May 12, C.E.1895; Vergani, p. 95)"

"Return to Paris. Paris smells like square carriages. (July 19, C.E.1895; Vergani, p. 95)"

"Criticism is the art of reproaching others for not having the qualities we think we have. (July 29, C.E.1895; Vergani, p. 95)"

"Cheerful as when it's raining and you know a friend is out and he's taking it all out. (August 10, C.E.1895; Vergani, p. 95)"

"When one reads the story of an exemplary life, such as that of Balzac, one always arrives at the story of death. So, what good is it to be exemplary? (August 27, C.E.1895; Vergani, p. 96)"

"Women's breasts are shaped like large insecticidal powder bellows. (September 19, C.E.1895; Vergani, p. 96)"

"A truly free man is one who knows how to refuse an invitation to dinner without giving pretexts. (November 25, C.E.1895)"

"I will also sign the petition for pardon for Oscar Wilde, provided that he gives his word of honor not to write any more. (December 6, C.E.1895; Vergani, p. 98)"

"The mimosa is, among flowers, what the canary is among birds. (February 20, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 108)"

"The word is the excuse of thought. (17 April 1896)"

"If I had talent, I would be imitated. If I were imitated, I would become fashionable. If I became fashionable, I would quickly go out of style. It is better, then, that I have no talent. (April 21, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 108)"

"To ward off the storm, all kinds of cowardice can be committed: praying to God, or pretending to work, or saving the fly that was about to burn at the flame of the candle. (June 6, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 109)"

"If you were to announce to me the death of my little girl whom I love so much, and in your words there was a picturesque one, I could not hear it without being fascinated by it. (July 9, C.E.1896; Vergani, pp. 109-110)"

"Glory is no more than a colonial genre. (July 18, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 110)"

"If you had been a friend or relative of Verlaine, I would have slapped him without a doubt. A humble reader in the midst of an anonymous crowd, I know only the immortal poet. My joy is to love him, my duty is to absolve him for the evil he has done to others. (August C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 111)"

"The hare. The subtle sound of the falling leaf puts her on her alert. She is as anxious as we are when we hear our furniture creaking in the night. (September C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 111)"

"The greatest man is only a child whom life has deceived. (October 17, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 111)"

"phonographs have a grandmother's voice. (November 18, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 114)"

"Rousseau, I read him in my slumber, and I want to suppress in myself all that made me slumber about him. (December 16, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 117)"

"Provincial walls exude resentment. (December 30, C.E.1896; Vergani, p. 117)"

"And these old women, whom I have known as girls! Am I so old too? How did they wither like that? (May 13, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 124)"

"The trees are perhaps the only ones who know the mystery of water in depth. (May 22, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 124)"

"The bird does not perch on the rose bush because there is a rose: it perches on it because it has seen lice. (June 9, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 126)"

"Her soul put belly. (June 16, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 127)"

"fear of death makes one love the work that is all life. (July 10, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 131)"

"If you could re-read me before reading me, you would love me much more. (July 30, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 132)"

"My jokes will make a fortune, I won't. (July 30, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 132)"

"God, who understands and forgives everything, will refuse to open the door of heaven to me if I have made a mistake in French. (September 6, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 132)"

"Some men appear to have married only to prevent their wives from marrying others. (September 29, C.E.1897; p. 133)"

"The last verses of Verlaine. It's no longer a piece of writing: it's a dice game made with words. (October 1, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 133)"

"actresses are very willing to play the part of an old woman but not a part of a mature woman. (November 16, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 133)"

"A bad book is always better than a good comedy. (November 16, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 133)"

"You don't die. death is a kind of brood life. (December 23, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 135)"

"wrinkles are nothing but broadly engraved smiles. (December 25, C.E.1897; Vergani, p. 135)"

"Mallarmé is also untranslatable into French. (March 1, C.E.1898; Vergani, p. 144)"

"My will is starting to have a bit of wrinkles. (March 24, C.E.1898; Vergani, p. 144)"

"I can swim just enough to restrain myself from saving others. (July 20, C.E.1898; Vergani, p. 149)"

"If you want to make sure you're always doing your duty, do what you find unpleasant. (August 15, C.E.1898)"

"Both I and the poor pig will not be appreciated until after we die. (October 1, C.E.1898; Vergani, p. 149)"

"My goodness is a moonlight that doesn't warm. (October 1, C.E.1898; Vergani, p. 149)"

"I am a writer whose only desire for perfection prevents me from being great. (January 15, C.E.1899; Vergani, p. 151)"

"The cat is the life of furniture. (February 11, C.E.1899; Vergani, p. 151)"

"Everything we are we put in our first book. Later on, we only pluck out the weeds of our faults and cultivate our first qualities, when we really manage to do something. (May 1, C.E.1899; Vergani, p. 152)"

"At the bottom of all patriotism is war: that's why I'm not a patriot. (June 14, C.E.1899; Vergani, p. 153)"

"If the house of happiness were to be built, the largest room would be the waiting room. (August 1, C.E.1899)"

"The [[hare]'s lair, even if the hare is absent, is always full of fear. (September 23, C.E.1899; Vergani, p. 155)"

"A bit of profanity emphasizes talent. (October 26, C.E.1899; Vergani, p. 155)"

"If you remember me with a statue, make a hole in it so that the birds can come and drink it. (December 10, C.E.1899; Vergani, p. 156)"

"I proceed through life like a mole. From time to time, I drop some dirt. A brief clearing. Then, back in the dark. (May 10, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 168)"

"The peasants carry their heavy hands as if they were carrying old tools. (June 2, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 169)"

"I can't look at a tree without being crushed by the universe. (June 16, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 169)"

"Our goodness is but our badness that sleeps. (June 2, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 169)"

"Those who have spoken best of death are all dead. (August 9, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 172)"

"The white blackbird exists, but it is so white that you can't see it. The black blackbird is but its shadow. (August 11, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 172)"

"In some friends there is nothing pleasant but their virginity. When you got married to them, things don't go well anymore. (October 9, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 173)"

"remorse go back and forth dressed in a small carabiniere suit. (October 9, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 173)"

"People who have themselves cremated think that, reduced to ashes, they will escape from God. (October 12, 1900; Vergani, p. 174)"

"Barring complications, he will die. (October 12, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 174)"

"The work of others disgusts me, and I don't like my own. That's my strength and my weakness. (October 12, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 174)"

"[Leaf|leaves]] move like the lips of a child who doesn't quite know his lesson and who is looking for what he has to say. (December 17, C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 175)"

"Life leads to anything, as long as you get out of it. (January 8, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 177)"

"That little girl seems to be in a cage behind her grandiose undulating harp, and she keeps scratching the bars of her cage with her fingers. (January 28, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 178)"

"You go to visit a sick person to tell you about all the illnesses you have had or that others have had. (February 18, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 180)"

"Today I practice laughing for a good hour, to deserve the reputation of a gay writer that they wanted to give me. (February 18, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 180)"

"It is not good for a masterpiece to be fully known, at the first try. Future generations must be given time to mature. Otherwise, they change their minds. (February 18, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 181)"

"She is the most faithful of all the wives: in fact, she has not deceived any of her lovers. (October 23, C.E.1981; Vergani, p. 184)"

"A fly is dirtier in winter than in summer. It seems that she stayed in our room not because of the heat, but only because she was attracted by our rotten smell. (November 25, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 190)"

"old age comes abruptly, like snow. One morning, when you wake up, you realize that everything is white. (December 9, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 190)"

"The poets take the pleasure of sitting on Olympus; but they are too small, and their feet do not touch the ground. (December 11, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 191)"

"My worn pants on the knee denounce that every night I look to see if there is someone under the bed. (December 22, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 191)"

"[Disease|disease]] are the great maneuvers of death. (January 20, C.E.1902; Vergani, p. 192)"

"I know that literature does not feed the man who engages in it. Luckily I never have much of an appetite. (February 11, C.E.1902; Vergani, p. 192)"

"The kangaroo, giant flea. (April 30, C.E.1902; Vergani, p. 195)"

"First Communion: the children all seem to have been injured in their left arm. (May 7, C.E.1902; Vergani, p. 195)"

"Brain. Man walks with his roots in his head. (May 23, C.E.1902; Vergani, p. 196)"

"Death could be the dream if, at a stroke, one could open an eye. (May 24, C.E.1902; Vergani, p. 196)"

"The layman is the man who tirelessly seeks God and never finds Him. (June 16, C.E.1902; Vergani, p. 198)"

"Fidelity, during life, is nothing: but what a humiliation it is to die and appear before God without ever having deceived one's wife! (June 16, C.E.1902; Vergani, p. 198)"

"With my lantern, I found a man: myself. I look at him. (June 23, C.E.1902; Vergani, p. 198)"

"«Cuckold»: strange that this little word doesn't have the feminine. (August 2, C.E.1902)"

"One year is over. A slice has been cut off at time, and time remains whole. (December 31, C.E.1902; Vergani, p. 199)"

"His accomplishments say he's talented, and his fiascos say he's a thinker. (January 25, C.E.1903; Vergani, p. 200)"

"There are people like that boring who make us lose a day in five minutes. (February 1, C.E.1903)"

"That woman shows her breasts and believes she is offering her heart. (March 2, C.E.1903; Vergani, p. 200)"

"Rostand, the poet of crowds who think they are intelligent. (July 12, C.E.1903; Vergani, p. 207)"

"When you are sick the face immediately begins to decompose and the earth of which we are made begins to resurface. (July 12, C.E.1903; Vergani, p. 207)"

"Pulling their truth out of the well, the prying people bathe everywhere. (August 1, C.E.1903; Vergani, p. 209)"

"[Peasants]] look too much at the cemetery and not enough at death. (August 1, C.E.1903; Vergani, p. 209)"

"[Peasants]] fight dirt only with sweat. (August 1, C.E.1903; Vergani, p. 209)"

"Every year, one defect more. Here's our only progress. (October 10, C.E.1903; Vergani, p. 209)"

"My mother coughs all the time, not because she needs to cough, but to let people know she's there. (December 30, C.E.1903; Vergani, p. 211)"

"funerals also have something good about them: they serve to reconcile families. (January 30, C.E.1904; Vergani, p. 216)"

"The moralists who extol work make me think of those fellows who have been deceived by the lure of a fairground sideshow and, in revenge, try to get others in. (March 11, C.E.1904; Vergani, p. 216)"

"I'm not made for fighting. I'm made to kill people by shooting in the backside. (April 19, C.E.1904; Vergani, p. 217)"

"Peasant women are like the flowers of the field that, if you smell them, either taste of nothing or stink. (May 23, C.E.1904; Vergani, p. 218)"

"As mayor I have to worry about the good maintenance of the roads in the countryside: as a poet I would prefer them to be neglected. (May 28, C.E.1904; Vergani, p. 218)"

"Ever since I met the real peasants, every bucolic has seemed like a lie to me: even mine. (September 19, C.E.1904; Vergani, pp. 219-220)"

"In that face marked with smallpox, it seems that there is something written in Braille, with characters for the blind. (December 5, C.E.1904; Vergani, p. 223)"

"Yes. You should be socialist and at the same time earn a lot of money. (December 15, C.E.1904; Vergani, p. 224)"

"I know at last what distinguishes man from beasts; financial difficulties. (December 16, C.E.1904; Vergani, p. 224)"

"When I think that maybe I wouldn't be socialist if I could have written a play in three acts! (January 9, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 225)"

"Slavs: writers who write between the lines instead of writing on them. (January 9, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 225)"

"I have an anticlerical soul and a monk's heart. (January 24, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 227)"

"Feminism. Yes, I think it is right, before giving a woman a child, to ask her if she wants one. (March 2, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 229)"

"Free thinker. Thinker would suffice. (June 26, C.E.1905)"

"If you fear loneliness, try not to be righteous. (July 10, C.E.1905)"

"What about the wind? All the gusts of wind come to moan at his door. (October 4, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 232)"

"I live locked in my laziness like inside a prison. (October 9, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 232)"

"I don't write too much because I never risk too much. (December 8, C.E.1905; Vergani, p. 232)"

"[[Posterity] is trusted so much. But why should the men of tomorrow be less stupid than those of today? (January 24, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 233)"

"The truest word, the most exact word, the most meaningful is the word "nothing". (January 26, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 233)"

"The muddy water of memory, where everything that falls is hidden. If you move it, something comes back to the surface. (February 10, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 234)"

"Woman should live only one season out of four. It should reappear every year. (February 10, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 234)"

"Actresses. You must always learn the art of stepping over the hands that offer you to kiss. (February 12, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 234)"

"The old fish-faced actress always tries to talk to you against the light. (February 13, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 234)"

"They are a dry tree that is just waiting for other people's leaves. (March 5, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 236)"

"dormers look like the square eyes of rooftops. (March 5, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 236)"

"I don't know if it is possible to correct one's own faults, but I do know that one can be disgusted by one's own qualities especially when one finds them in others. (March 10, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 236)"

"Your page on autumn must give you the same pleasure as walking on dead leaves. (March 10, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 236)"

"Imagine life without death. Out of desperation, people would try to kill themselves every day. (March 13, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 236)"

"Some friends distrust us as if they believe that we know the depths of their souls. (March 13, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 236)"

"I have a forehead like hydrocephalus, and my ideas disappear every moment underwater. Then they come back to the surface like the drowned. (March 21, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 236)"

"Sometimes I don't have blood in my veins except to get bad blood. (March 24, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 237)"

"I don't bend, but I break. (June 19, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 238)"

"The truth I pulled up from my well can't get out of its chain. (June 19, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 239)"

"People don't talk about me anymore except in relation to others. (June 27, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 239)"

"To be happy is to be envied. Now there's always someone who envies us. It's a matter of finding out. (July 1, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 239)"

"equality is the utopia of envy. Yes, but we will suppress it by suppressing the reasons for our pride. (August 7, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 239)"

"The peasants do not envy the owner of the castle: but they envy the neighbor who has made his fortune. (August 9, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 239)"

"Continuous work is as stupid as continuous rest. (August 16, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 241)"

"Our dream bumps against the mystery like a wasp against a glass. Less merciful than man, God never opens the window. (August 16, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 241)"

"To romanticize a peasant is almost an insult to his misery. The peasant has no history, or at least no story from a novel. (September 12, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 241)"

"Every moment I turn off and on again. My soul is full of unlit matches. (September 18, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 242)"

"The sun rises before me, but I lie down after him. We are tied and drawn. (September 24, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 242)"

"I am envious in nature, but I have never had the patience to be ambitious. (October 9, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 242)"

"My books are so far removed from me that I am already a kind of posterity to them. This is my precise judgment: I will never read them again. (November 29, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 245)"

"The bat flies with its rain cover. (December 1, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 245)"

"You Must Not Love Shakespeare then very late, when one has a disgust for perfection. (December 4, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 246)"

"A journal editor will give you a good hour to explain why he doesn't have time to read your manuscript. But at least he had that hour to read it. (December 10, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 247)"

"Eulogy funeral. Half of this praise would have sufficed for him when he was alive. (December 16, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 248)"

"A socialist independent to the point of not being afraid to make luxuries. (December 19, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 248)"

"The year has too long an agony. You are sad on December 20, and on the 31st you don't notice that the year dies. (December 20, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 248)"

"The penguin with the tips of its wings in its waistcoat pocket. (December 22, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 248)"

"To have the dreams light asleep with eyes full of moon. (December 27, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 248)"

"A man of character does not have a good character. (January 2, C.E.1907; Vergani, p. 249)"

"As soon as I happen to work a little, I immediately believe that everything is due to me and the slightest annoyance seems to me an injustice. (January 4, C.E.1907; p. 249)"

"Experience is a useful gift that serves no purpose. (January 8, C.E.1907; Vergani, p. 249)"

"Native country, mortal country. (June 19, C.E.1907; Vergani, p. 252)"

"The country of birth is all here: a minute of emotion every now and then, but not always. (August 10, C.E.1907; Vergani, p. 253)"

"You need to write how you speak, if you speak well. (August 22, C.E.1907; Vergani, p. 253)"

"Car is boredom that becomes vertigo. They immediately ask you how much horsepower the engine has. Let's say 15,000 and let's not talk about it anymore. (August 29, C.E.1907; Vergani, p. 253)"

"The blush spreads on a maiden's cheek like the fogging of breath on a glass of cold water. (September 11, C.E.1907; Vergani, p. 253)"

"The moon is sexless. (September 20, C.E.1907; Vergani, p. 254)"

"I'm passionate for a few minutes a day, but no woman takes advantage of it. (January 7, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 261)"

"Migraines. In the morning I wake up with a huge head. (January 8, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 261)"

"Oh, something new! Something new, even if it were to be my death. (January 19, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 261)"

"Collectivism! But talent can only be individual. (February 4, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 262)"

"Forty-four years is the age at which one begins to no longer be able to hope to live twice as long. (February 21, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 262)"

"The arm I would like to reach out to my manuscript is paralyzed. There is nothing that disgusts me more than the sketches of my manuscripts. They look like crushed eggs before they were hatched. (July 31, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 263)"

"Anatole France, after all, is only the first of the amateurs. (October 15, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 263)"

"In style, the image is a germ of corruption. (October 30, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 263)"

"There are times when everything goes your way. There is no need to be afraid. These are moments that pass. (October 31, C.E.1908; Vergani, p. 263)"

"Everything tires. Even the image, which is so helpful, ends up tiring. A style without images would be a superior style, but you only get there after long turns and after many excesses. (May 4, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 269)"

"You should write how you breathe. A harmonious breath, with its slowness and its suddenly hurried rhythms, a natural breath, here, the symbol of beautiful style. (May 4, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 270)"

"The artist only counts on the unexpected. (May 7, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 270)"

"Village. Certain neighborhoods are infected with hatred, pride, envy, malice. Only death can heal them. (May 8, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 270)"

"I see nothing in my life but reasons not to write a novel. (May 24, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 271)"

"The "beautiful descriptions" put on me the taste for three-line descriptions. (May 24, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 272)"

"I am sure that a humanity chaste would be infinitely superior. (May 24, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 272)"

"I climb up a chair to rummage through the bookcase, and if I see a torn book, I always take it. (June 16, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 272)"

"Mourning: The black lie. (August 22, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 274)"

"Life is neither long nor short. It has some delays. (August 22, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 274)"

"When you're about to die, you know fish. (November 23, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 276)"

"A more unpleasant thing than careerism is the display of modesty. (December 10, C.E.1909; p. 278)"

"I am ill, and I would like to say profound, somewhat historical things, such as my friends would repeat; But I'm too tired of nerves. (December 10, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 278)"

"You have to be sick for a whole year to understand how long a year! (December 10, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 278)"

"The mystery of the death is more than enough. All that goes into it is nothing more than a huge theatrical plot. (December 10, C.E.1909; Vergani, p. 279)"

"Snow on the water: silence on silence. (January 26, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 280)"

"Flood. It's always smaller than my little imagination imagines. (January 26, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 280)"

"Dreamer like a cat looking at the bright rays of a lamp on the ceiling. (February 16, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 281)"

"It is tremendous how hard it is to take an interest in the ailments of others when you are well. (January 26, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 281)"

"Humor: modesty, play of the spirit. It is the moral and daily hygiene of the soul. I have a high moral and literary idea of humour. Imagination makes you swerve. Sensitivity makes you bland. Humor is, in short, reason. The regularized man. No definition was enough for me. On the other hand, humor has it all. (February 23, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 282)"

"Between my brain and me there is always a layer that I can't penetrate. (February 23, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 282)"

"By the way, I'm done. I could start again and it would be better: but no one would notice. It's better that it's over. (February 27, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 283)"

"I have the apparent, docile and resigned life of a weathervane spinning on the roof. (March 6, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 283)"

"Those who do not have the disease of scruples should not even dream of being honest. (March 15, C.E.1910; Vergani, p. 283)"

"I'm not sincere even when I say I'm not sincere."

"I have read a few pages of this diary. At the end of the day, it's the best and most useful thing I've done in my life. (Jules Renard, 14 November C.E.1900; Vergani, p. 174)"

"This diary empties me. It is not an opera. To make love every day is not to love, either. (Jules Renard, January 1, C.E.1901; Vergani, p. 177)"

"This is a diary of abortions. (Jules Renard, December 1, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 245)"

"Leaning on their elbows, they follow with their gaze the mounds of the tunnels dug by the moles, which zigzag at the edge of the field, like the veins of the elderly. Sometimes they lose sight of them, sometimes they come out into an esplanade, where the devastating cuscuta spreads its beard of red filaments. Here the mole tunnels form a small village of huts built like those of the Indians. (2010, p. 31)"

"Not everyone can be orphan. (2010, p. 126)"

"Twilight is deceiving, as everyone knows. Things show their uncertain profiles. The flight of a gnat is as disturbing as the approach of a thunderstorm. (2010, p. 132)"

"Every moment Poil de carotte reappears to me. We live together, but I hope to die before him. From (Jules Renard)"

"Poil de carotte is a wrong, incomplete, badly composed book, because it came out of me in a flutter. From (Jules Renard)"

"I can say that, thanks to Poil de carotte, I will have doubled my life. From (Jules Renard)"

"Jules Renard, Diario C.E.1887-1910, translation and afterword by Orio Vergani, edited by Guido Vergani, SE, Milan, C.E.1989. ISBN 88-7710-141-5"

"Jules Renard, Pel di carota, translated by Frediano Sessi, Giunti Editore, Florence, C.E.2010. ISBN 8809757483"

"Jules Renard, Peldicarota, translated by Rossana Campo, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, Milan C.E.2007. ISBN 9788807821936"

"The Indian mind has always had for calculations and the handling of numbers an extraordinary inclination, ease and power, such as no other civilization in history ever possessed to the same degree. So much so that Indian culture regarded the science of numbers as the noblest of its arts ... A thousand years ahead of Europeans, Indian savants knew that the zero and infinity were mutually inverse notions."

"The Indian people were the only civilization to take the decisive step towards the perfection of numerical notation. We owe the discovery of modern numeration and the elaboration of the very foundations of written calculations to India alone.""

"It is clear how much we owe to this brilliant civilization, and not only in the field of arithmetic; by opening the way to the generalization of the concept of the number, the Indian scholars enabled the rapid development of mathematics and exact sciences. The discoveries of these men doubtless required much time and imagination, and above all a great ability for abstract thinking. These major discoveries took place within an environment which was at once mystical, philosophical, religious, cosmological, mythological and metaphysical.""

"In India, an aptitude for the study of numbers and arithmetical research was often combined with a surprising tendency towards metaphysical abstractions; in fact, the latter is so deeply ingrained in Indian thought and tradition that one meets it in all fields of study, from the most advanced mathematical ideas to disciplines completely unrelated to 'exact sciences.""

"In short, Indian science was born out of a mystical and religious culture and the etymology of the Sanskrit words used to describe numbers and the science of numbers bears witness to this fact.""

"Sanskrit means "complete", "perfect" and "definitive". In fact, this language is extremely elaborate, almost artificial, and is capable of describing multiple levels of meditation, states of consciousness and psychic, spiritual and even intellectual processes. As for vocabulary, its richness is considerable and highly diversified. Sanskrit has for centuries lent itself admirably to the diverse rules of prosody and versification. Thus we can see why poetry has played such a preponderant role in all of Indian culture and Sanskrit literature." 604"

"Ancient Indian culture has regarded the science of numbers as the noblest of its arts … A thousand years ahead of Europeans, Indian savants knew that zero and infinity were mutually inverse notions. In short, Indian science was born out of a mystical and religious culture and the etymology of the Sanskrit word used to describe numbers and the science of numbers bears witn The early passion which Indian civilization had for high numbers was a significant factor contributing to the discovery of the place-value system, and not only offered the Indians the incentive to go beyond the calculable physical world, but also led to an understanding much earlier than in our civilization of the notion of mathematical infinity itself."

"I woll tell you an ensaumple of a woman that ete the good morsell in the absence of her husbonde. Ther was a woman that had a pie in a cage, that spake and wolde tell talys that she saw do. And so it happed that her husbonde made kepe a gret ele in a litell ponde in his gardin, to that entent to yeue it sum of his frendes that wolde come to see hym; but the wyff, whanne her husbond was oute, saide to her maide, 'late us ete the gret ele, and y will saie to my husbond that the otour hathe eten hym;' and so it was done. And whan the good man was come, the pye began to tell hym how her maistresse had eten the ele. And he yode to the ponde, and fonde not the ele. And he asked his wiff wher the ele was become. And she wende to have excused her, but he saide her, 'excuse you not, for y wote well ye have eten yt, for the pye hathe told me.' And so ther was gret noyse betwene the man and hys wiff for etinge of the ele. But whanne the good man was gone, the maistresse and the maide come to the pie, and plucked of all the fedres on the pyes hede, saieng, 'thou hast discovered us of the ele;' and thus was the pore pye plucked. But ever after, whanne the pie sawe a balled or a pilled man, or a woman with an high forhede, the pie saide to hem, 'ye spake of the ele.' And therfor here is an ensaumple that no woman shulde ete no lycorous morcelles in the absens and withoute weting of her husbond, but yef it so were that it be with folk of worshipp, to make hem chere; for this woman was afterward mocked for the pye and the ele."

"Where once, before King Arthur had made his chivalry, the Knight of the Tower Landry had been compelled to warn his daughter against entering her own dining hall in the evening unaccompanied—for fear of what might happen in the dark corners—now there was music and light."

"As the Professor left, Marek said, "I pray God look with favor upon your journey and deliver you safe back." That was what he always said to departing friends. It had been a favorite phrase of the Count Geoffrey de la Tour, six hundred years before.""

"You cannot be a Hindu fundamentalist. It does not mean anything .. .The concept of fundamentalism does not exist in Hinduism."

"Each Indian looks for God in his own way and worships one or several of the millions of deities who are the supposed reincarnation or expression of God, a Spirit or a Force. This has never led to a religious war. There have been communal clashes, but India has never had to face religious wars or crusades save those that were thrust on it from outside. The multiple revelation of the East has proved to be in many ways more advantageous than the single revelation of the West."

"The most filthy, dismal, and hideous of all I ever witnessed, and I doubt if there can be any other in the world more repulsive. Another particularly odious Edict of Faith was the obligation of Goa’s citizens to spy on behalf of the Inquisition. [Its] infamy never reached greater depths, nor was more vile, more black, and more completely determined by mundane interests than at the Tribunal of Goa, by irony called the Holy Office. Here the Inquisitors went to the length of imprisoning in its jails women who resisted their advances, and after having satisfied their bestial instincts there, ordering that they be burnt as heretics."

"The Dalai Lama was little known, because he had never traveled abroad and was not yet a Nobel Prize winner, but he opened all the doors for me and I was able to film all the greats Tibetan masters, rinpothes and toulkus who had fled with him."

"At that time, the Dalai Lama was much more accessible, I had breakfast with him and spend long moments alone with him."

"Journalist: According to you, the term "proof" does not apply to God. You prefer the term "sign". Why? God is not an entity of the same order as an atom or a galaxy. The existence of the atom is corroborated by theoretical schemes and experimental evidence. Almost the entire scientific community recognizes its existence. God, at least from my Christian point of view, is not a matter of demonstration. He is a personal God with whom we can establish a relationship. This is an act of faith and freedom. The word "proof" does not apply to the existence of God, because proof is a matter of logical reasoning, not of personal choice. When faced with a mathematical proof, we do not have the freedom to accept or reject the result. Even in physics, where there is no absolute certainty, scientists reach situations of consensus. The theory of general relativity, for example, is accepted by almost all scientists. But this is far from the case with the existence of God! A sign, however, requires interpretation. And interpretation refers to the freedom of the interpreter. If we have a pleasant encounter on the street, we can see it as a sign of God's benevolence or simply as a result of chance. It is a question of freedom of interpretation. No demonstration can conclude that we should have met that person on that day and at that time. The believer can be free to find signs of divine action in the structure of the universe. Isn't it a sign of something that the universe is so coherent? There is room for debate here. But this is not proof."

"The word "proof" is often understood in the strong sense of "rigorous demonstration that leaves no room for interpretation." Admitting the conclusion of a mathematical theorem does not commit freedom. It can be used in a weaker sense, but I prefer to speak of "signs", as in the Gospel according to John. They are, if you like, "clues". That an unexpected event spurs me to give thanks to God poses no difficulty to me, even if other people can see the result of chance in it. The sign presupposes the commitment of a freedom."

"From a Christian perspective, God is not a "thing", an object that exists like the desk I am sitting at exists, but a person with whom I am in a vital relationship. "Knowing" is not of the same order as knowing an electron, a chromosome or a galaxy: this presupposes a theoretical model and objective experimental verification. Proving the existence of the atom is one thing, but the same procedure cannot be used for the God who revealed himself in Jesus Christ. The relationship I form with him is about freedom."

"Journalist: What is the difference between a "great watchmaker" god and the God of Jesus Christ? The "great watchmaker" refers to the poetry of Voltaire: it is based on the idea that the world is a clock, that is, a mechanical construction. The model is the vision of Newton and the founders of modern science, such as Descartes. It is known that Pascal was critical of this God "of philosophers and wise men". The God who reveals himself in Jesus Christ presents another "profile", if we can put it that way. Its power manifests itself in its opposite, as Saint Paul of Tarsus vigorously underlined. This shows us the divine creative action in a very different way than according to the model of the manufacture of a machine."

"The Oriental Renaissance—though not Indic studies themselves—had only an ephemeral career in the same England to which it owed its origin. Later the debt of several writers, especially the Lake Poets, to the Hindu revelation became clear, and the shadow of its impact on London was evident in Chateaubriand when he returned from exile. But the fire in England was soon damped. Great Britain could not, or would not, be the hearth for such a renaissance. Thereafter, even in Indie Studies, the Victorians procured their best workers only by appealing to the German universities."

"Nous sommes assemblés par la volonté nationale, nous n’en sortirons que par la force."

"[Insert French]"

"Le silence du peuple est la leçon des rois."

"Le silence du peuple est la leçon des rois."

"A fair body, if it have not a fair mind to match, is more like a mere image of itself or idol than a true human body."

"Three things white: skin, teeth and hands. Three black: eyes, brows and lids. Three red: lips, cheeks and nails. Three long: body, hair and hands. Three short: teeth, ears and feet. Three wide: chest or bosom, forehead and space betwixt the eyes. Three narrow: mouth (upper and lower), girth or waist, and ankle. Three big and thick: arm, thigh and calf. Three long and fine: fingers, hair and lips. Three small and delicate: breasts, nose and head."

"A jest that makes a virtuous woman only smile, often frightens away a prude; but, when real danger forces the former to flee, the latter does not hesitate to advance."

"To remain virtuous, a man has only to combat his own desires: a woman must resist her own inclinations, and the continual attack of man."

"One may be better than his reputation or his conduct, but never better than his principles."

"Women like balls and assemblies, as a hunter likes a place where game abounds."

"In marriage, woman is a serf. In public instruction, she is sacrificed. In labor, she is made inferior. Civilly, she is a minor. Politically, she has no existence. She is the equal of man only when punishment and the payment of taxes are in question. I claim the rights of woman, because it is time to make the nineteenth century ashamed of its culpable denial of justice to half the human species; Because the state of inferiority in which we are held corrupts morals, dissolves society, deteriorates and enfeebles the race; Because the progress of enlightenment, in which woman participates, has transformed her in social power, and because this new power produces evil in default of the good which it is not permitted to do; Because the time for according reforms has come, since women are protesting against the order which oppresses them; some by disdain of laws and prejudices; others by taking possession of contested positions, and by organizing themselves into societies to claim their share of human rights, as is done in America; Lastly, because it seems to me useful to reply, no longer with sentimentality, but with vigor, to those men who, terrified by the emancipating movement, call to their aid false science to prove that woman is outside the pale of right; and carry indecorum and the opposite of courage, even to insult, even to the most revolting outrages."

"One can never say enough how moving a first kiss is."

"I love difficulty. Things easily won have less value."

"I love hearing people talk about France. You can't imagine how much I would like to know it. Sometimes at night, when I was little, I would dream that I was finally there. I would wake up and cry under my mosquito net when I realized it was only a dream."

"Opium awakens the appetite at first, during that initial phase it never surpasses.Afterwards... nothing matters anymore — not love, not hunger, not anguish, not death."

"The king of Spaine receives from this Estate [Milan] yearely eight hundred thousand duc∣kats of ordinarie, besides the free gifts and other extraordinarie matters: And to shew, that this king can tell how to draw as much as is possible from this Estate, or that his officers make it for him, the proverbe of Italie saith, That the officer of Sicile doth gnaw, He of Naples doth eate, but He of Milan doth devour."

"[The Corsicanes] are so full of revenge, as the Italians have a common proverbe which saith, That they must never trust a Corsicane, neither alive nor dead, for that as soone as any one is slaine, presently all his kinsmen meet to kill him, if it be possible, that slew him: and notwithstanding that they make some accord, yet there is no great trust in it, for that he may be surprised when he dreames least of it; so as the best course is to looke well to himselfe, and not to make any strict league of amitie with reconciled enemies."

"The Suevians are much given to incontinencie, and the women are as tractable as men can desire, and both the one and the other begin this lewd life soone, and leave it late: and therefore there is a common proverbe, That the countrie of Suaube alone is able to furnish all Germanie with strumpets, Franconia with rogues and beggers, [Bohemia] with heretickes, Bavaria with theeves, Westphalia with perjurers and false witnesses, and the Marquisat of the Rhin with gluttons."

"In the time of Kaykozrrao, there were in Persia two famous Philosophers, the one called Horez, the other Lokmon: of this last there are some workers found among the Persians, which shew that he was of a great spirit: among others they haue a booke of comparisons and examples very like to those of Aesope; there is also great likelyhood that they spake of him, whenas reporting his life they say that being a great Philosopher, he had beene a slave, very faithfull, and gratious, and that he dyed condemned: one thing makes it doubtfull, for that they assure he was a Jew. They have a proverbe among them, which saith, It is not needfull to teach Lokmon, to shew the deepe knowledge of this man."

"The inhabitants of Paros were sometimes accused of disloyaltie, and to be no men of their words, because Miltiades, Generall of the Athenians armie, having subdued them, and they, having faithfully promised to be their subjects, they observed not their promise; and therefore it was said as in a common proverbe: To doe as they of Paros did; which was: to falsifie their faith."

"The Hippopotame, or horse of the river, is tawnie, hath little haire, and leapes to land to feed, and in the day time returnes to the water. The Afrikans make some of them tame, and they are exceeding swift, but they must not passe over deepe rivers, for they will presently dive. There doe also ingender in those rivers certaine water oxen, which live for some dayes upon the land. The aboundance of water, together with the heat, by reason of the neerenesse of the Sun, makes the countrie exceeding fertile, and to abound in plants, fruit, hearbes, and graine, and it would yeeld much more, if the industrie of the inhabitants did helpe nature."

"In the province of Bamba, there is a mountaine, where they find many mynes of silver, and other mettalls. They have also in this countrie many Elephants, by reason of the many forests, and rivers. These Elephants are exceeding great, for that they grow unto the middest of their age, and they live commonly unto the age of one hundred and fiftie yeares. Those which we have seene in Portugall, and elswhere in Europe, were lesse, for that they were brought away too young. The greatnesse of these beasts may be conceived by their teeth, which have beene gathered up, whereof some have beene two hundred weight. In the language of Congo, the Elephants tooth is called Mene Manzao. The young Elephants are called Moana Manzo. Their eares are not lesse than the greatest Turkish targets; the greatest are six foot long, fanshioned like an egge, and they are narrow towards the shoulder. With the motion of their eares and tayle, they drive away flies, and they kill them when they rest upon them, drawing together their skin. The haire of their tayle is verie thicke, and like to little blacke shining reeds, and those of the younger are the fairest and strongest, and of greater price. Without doubt the Auncients did not know the nature of the Elephant, whenas they said they could not bend their hammes, and therefore they did leane against some tree to sleepe, and by this meanes were easie to be taken: for the Portugals and Flemings have seene the contrarie, for they get up into trees drawing up their haunches to gather leaves or boughes, or stoope easily downe when they drinke in any place where the water is low, the which they could not doe if they had no joynts."

"The same province breeds another beast called Zebre by the inhabitants, the which is like unto a mule, but it ingenders. Finally, the disposition of the haire is very strange; for from the ridge of the backe to the bellie, there are lines or strikes of three colours, white, blacke, and yellow, all being ordered by a just proportion, and every strike being of the breadth of three fingers. These beasts multiplie greatly, for that they have young every yeare. They are wild, and exceeding swift; so as the Portugals among their proverbs, have that of the swiftnesse of the Zebre. This beast being made tame, might serve for a horse in the war, bearing and drawing men and burdens, to the end we may see how God hath provided for things necessarie. But for that this countrie wants horses, and the inhabitants have not the art to make the Zabre tame, nor know how to use oxen, notwithstanding they have many in these countries: the men do the office of beasts; for being set at the corners of streets or highwaies, they carrie litters or chaires: so as they that are to make a journey speedily, change the men often that carrie them, and by this meanes they soone dispatch the way they are to go."

"They do also find other beasts, whereof some are as big as an oxe, others are lesse, which they call Empalanges: then they have wild bugles or oxen, woolves which smell very farre off, and which doe exceedingly love a certaine oyle which they draw out of palme trees. Moreover, they have foxes, stags, goats, conies, and hares, in great aboundance, for that they pursue them not to death when they hunt, as they doe in Europe. They have great numbers of Civit Cats, the which they take and make tame, to the end they may get the good scent which comes from this beast, the which is wonderfull pleasing unto them."

"There are divers sorts of serpents and vipers, whereof some are five and twentie foot long and five broad, having the bellie very large, and the throat so wide, as they will devoure a stag, or any other beast of the like bignesse. They live as well upon the land as in the water. When they are full they sleepe willingly, and then the inhabitants kill them, and feed upon their flesh, which they hold to be better than that of any foule. Finally, there are vipers whose poison is so strong, as when they have bitten any one, he dies within five and twentie houres. There are also to be seene certaine beasts as big as a ram, having wings like a dragon, they have a taile, a long beake, and many rankes of teeth. they live of raw flesh, and have but two legs: their skinne is red mixt with greene and blew."

"In the province of Pemba, in which the towne of Congo stands, the inhabitants cut the branches of certaine trees called Ogegues, and make hedges, alleys, and arbours, to keepe them from the Sunne. They carrie Tamarinde in their mouthes, to prevent thirst. The houses of the inhabitants of Congo, are low, and verie narrow; not for want of materialls (as we have shewed discoursing of their quarries of stone and marble, besides the which, there is store of lyme and tymber) but by reason of the little industrie of the inha∣bitants, who know not how to build, nor have any carpenters, nor masons, for the erecting of houses. They of Congo use cockles instead of gold and coyne, and make their traffique therewith."

"[The inhabitants of Congo] steale willingly from strangers, but they use no theft among themselves. The women are all given to make love, especially with strangers, not caring for their reputations, so as they may satisfie their lustfull desires."

"Verbi vere substantivi, Caro cum sit in declivi Temporis angustiâ, In æternis verbum annis Permanere, nos Johannis Docet theologia."

"Dum Magistri super pectus Fontem haurit intellectûs Et doctrinæ flumina, Fiunt, ipso situ loci, Verbo fides, auris voci, Mens Deo contermina. Unde mentis per excessus, Carnis, sensûs super gressus Errorumque nubila, Contra veri solis lumen Visum cordis et acumen Figit velut aquila."

"I thought I had dismissed my past, but one morning it caught up with me."

"It is precisely when the house is on fire, as I said to myself, and there is a good excuse to flee, that one should defend it all the more energetically. I suppose I acted less because of an ideology than to be true to myself."

"In a broader way, I discovered those those great, simple truths that had escaped me in the kind of magic circle I had shut myself into: that war is hideous, fanatical beliefs murderous, and death the supreme evil."

"I shall never be so embittered as to discourage the faith of those who are twenty years of age. I believe, though, I have earned the right to urge prudence, not as regards the act of commitment itself, but in the choice that leads to it."

"There was also anti-Semitism, a tricky problem. I did not feel then, and have never felt, any racial hatred. To me the Jews were a symbol; to oppose them was to fight against international capitalism. In the closed world in which I moved they represented the forces of evil."

"Now I can smile at this fervor. But I do not repudiate it. It is, above all it was, a part of my truth."

"Pain was in the order of things and restored the much-scoffed-at-discipline. And it was just such a discipline that I expected from the Waffen SS, founded not on caste or compulsion but, to the contrary, on a kind of internal justice, accepted by each member as a matter of course because it was based on a communal ideal in which all were equal, even the higher ranks in the hierarchy."

"Prisons, like churches, always escape the bombings."

"I decided to take a risk, not out of pride, but simply because it was only by a certain frankness that I could keep my self-respect."

"To select well among old things is almost equal to inventing new ones."

"In love, if inconstancy gives some pleasure, constancy alone gives happiness."

"Aux États-Unis la nature, comme la société, n'est pas toujours belle, mais elle est toujours grande."