Ernest Renan Quotes

44 quotes in 605 categories

• None of the miracles with which ancient histories are filled, occurred under scientific conditions. Observation never once contradicted, teaches us that miracles occur only in…
• Jesus was the greatest religious genius that ever lived.
• No idea can succeed except at the expense of sacrifice; no one ever escapes without enduring strain from the struggle of life.
• As soon as sacrifice becomes a duty and necessity to mankind. I see no limit to the horizon which opens before him.
• The greatest men of a nation are those it puts to death.
• Man makes holy what he believes as he makes beautiful what he loves.
• Good humor is a philosophic state of mind; it seems to say to nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us.
• The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half true.
• When people complain of life, it is almost always because they have asked impossible things of it.
• The prayer of the agnostic: "O God, if there is a God, save my soul if I have a soul."
• I can die when I wish to: that is my elixir of life.
• Let us remember that sorrow alone is the creator of great things.
• To conceive the good, in fact, is not sufficient; it must be made to succeed among men. To accomplish this less pure paths must be…
• Never has any one been less a priest than Jesus, never a greater enemy of forms, which stifle religion under the pretext of protecting it.…
• The liberty of the individual is a necessary postulate of human progress.
• In morals, truth is but little prized when it is a mere sentiment, and only attains its full value when realized in the world as…
• Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation.
• All history is incomprehensible without Christ.
• All the great things of humanity have been accomplished in the name of absolute principles.
• As a rule, all heroism is due to a lack of reflection, and thus it is necessary to maintain a mass of imbeciles. If they…

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