“He flattered himself on being a man without any prejudices; and this pretension itself is a very great prejudice.”

— Anatole France, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard, 1881, pt. II, ch. 4, Lafcadio Hearn translation, 1890

About Anatole France

1844 – 1924

French poet, journalist and novelist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1921).

“To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”

“What we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.”

“If it were absolutely necessary to choose, I would rather be guilty of an immoral act than of a cruel one.”

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

“It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?”

“In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.”

“If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.”

“That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.”

“Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason.”