To be able to think freely, a man must be certain that no consequence will follow whatever he writes. — Ernest Renan Copy Share Image
He whom God has touched will always be a being apart: he is, whatever he may do, a stranger among men; he… — Ernest Renan Copy Share Image
To conceive the good, in fact, is not sufficient; it must be made to succeed among men. To accomplish this less pure… — Ernest Renan Copy Share Image
As a rule, all heroism is due to a lack of reflection, and thus it is necessary to maintain a mass of… — Ernest Renan Copy Share Image
To act well in this world, one must sacrifice all personal desires. The people who become missionaries of religious thought have no… — Ernest Renan Copy Share Image
Muslims are the first victims of Islam. Many times I have observed in my travels in the Orient that fanaticism comes from… — Ernest Renan Copy Share Image
It is evident, indeed, that such a doctrine, taken by itself in a literal manner, had no future. The world, in continuing… — Ernest Renan Copy Share Image
The prayer of the agnostic: "O God, if there is a God, save my soul if I have a soul." — Ernest Renan Copy Share
The epic disappeared along with the age of personal heroism; there can be no epic with artillery. — Ernest Renan Copy Share
Muslims are the first victims of Islam. To liberate a Muslim from his religion is the best service that one can render him! — Ernest Renan Copy Share
It is evident, indeed, that such a doctrine, taken by itself in a literal manner, had no future. The world, in continuing to exist,… — Ernest Renan Copy Share
Man is not on this earth merely to be happy, or even to be simply honest. He is there to realize great things for… — Ernest Renan Copy Share
To have common glories in the past, a common will in the present; to have done great things together; to wish to do greater;… — Ernest Renan Copy Share
“To have done great things together, to want to do more, such are the essential conditions to form a people. . . . Man… — Ernest Renan Copy Share
As a rule, all heroism is due to a lack of reflection, and thus it is necessary to maintain a mass of imbeciles. If… — Ernest Renan Copy Share
None of the miracles with which ancient histories are filled, occurred under scientific conditions. Observation never once contradicted, teaches us that miracles occur only… — Ernest Renan Copy Share
“Islam has been liberal when it has been weak and violent when it has been strong.” — Ernest Renan Copy Share
“What is human life? Is it not a maimed happiness—care and weariness, weariness and care, with the baseless expectation...of a brighter tomorrow?” — Ernest Renan Copy Share
