A nation has a soul, a spiritual principle. One is in the past, the other in the present. One is the possession of a rich legacy of memories; the other is the desire to live together and to value the… — 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 Image
The epic disappeared along with the age of personal heroism; there can be no epic with artillery. — Ernest Renan Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“Islam has been liberal when it has been weak and violent when it has been strong.” — Ernest Renan Copy Share Image
“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 Image
