Anatole France (1844 – 1924)
Born Jacques Anatole François Thibault, was a French poet, journalist, and novelist.
Dans tout État policé, la richesse est chose sacrée; dans les démocraties elle est la seule chose sacrée.
For the moment the peril was nowhere and yet everywhere. The majority remained solid; but the leaders became stiff and exacting.
On devient bon écrivain comme on devient bon menuisier: en rabotant ses phrases.
It was one of the deadliest and heaviest feelings of my life to feel that I was no longer a boy. From that moment I began to grow old in my own esteem — and in my esteem age is not estimable.
A beautiful fig-tree raised itself in a hollow of the island and thrust forth its branches far and wide. The inhabitants of the island used to worship it.
And the holy Mael said to them: "You worship this tree because it is beautiful. Therefore you are capable of feeling beauty. Now I come to reveal to you the hidden beauty." And he taught them the Gospel. And after having instructed them, he baptized them with salt and water.
Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when He did not want to sign.
Les gens qui n'eurent point de faiblesses sont terribles; on n'a point de prise sur eux.
Les hommes qui se sont occupés du bonheur des peuples ont rendu leurs proches bien malheureux.