“The true Vedantic spirit does not start out with a system of preconceived ideas.”

— Romain Rolland, Life of Ramakrishna (1929)

About Romain Rolland

1866 – 1944

French novelist and Nobel laureate in Literature (1915).

“No one ever reads a book. He reads himself through books, either to discover or to control himself.”

“Theatre supposes lives that are poor and agitated, a people searching in dreams for a refuge from thought.”

“If we were happier and freer we should not feel hungry for theatre.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”