Anatole France

Nature has no principles. She makes no distinction between good and evil.

It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion.

In art as in love, instinct is enough.

The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

Irony is the gaiety of reflection and the joy of wisdom.

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.

It is well for the heart to be naive and the mind not to be.

The poor have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

The books that everybody admires are those that nobody reads.

Innocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue.

It is better to understand little than to misunderstand a lot.

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving.

If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.

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

Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.