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
To act well in this world, one must sacrifice all personal desires. The people who become missionaries of religious thought have no other Fatherland than this thought. Man is not on Earth merely to be happy, nor even simply to… — 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
