Anatole France

"The human brain is a wonderful thing. It starts working from the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public."

"Science in the broadest sense is the endeavor to find rules of universal application."

"Irony is a form of politeness for the strong."

"We are never born too late or too early; we are born exactly when we ought to be."

"Change is necessary in life as the seasons turn."

"The public does not exist; there are only different publics."

"I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see."

"In art as in love, instinct is enough."

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."

"The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good—in spite of all the people who say he is very good."

"The poet is a little bit ahead of his time always."

"A smile costs nothing, but it pays."

"It is well for us to realize that nothing is so good, nor so true, that we may always be certain of it."

"Tradition is the illusion of permanence."

"The miracle of the leaf is more wonderful than that of the printing press."

"To criticize is to appreciate; to appreciate is to return."

"The imagination is more important than knowledge."

"We love in proportion to our capacity for suffering."

"There is nothing so easy as to be profound; you have only to be muddled."

"Woman is not made to be the slave of man."

"Curiosity is the most superficial of all the affections."

"The facts of individual men's lives do not interest me."

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"The desire for justice is a noble thing."

"We have the duty to defend life."

"Art is the making of fine things."

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

"Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be."

"In books lies the soul of the whole past time."

"Forgetting is the privilege of the free."