Anatole France

What frightens us most in a madman is his sane conversation.

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

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

Devout believers are safeguarded in a high degree against the risk of certain neurotic illnesses; their acceptance of the universal neurosis spares them the task of constructing a personal one.

That man is prudent who neither hopes nor fears anything from the uncertain events of the future.

Religion has done love a great service by making it a sin.

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have left me.

If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.

The truth is that life is delicious, horrible, charming, frightful, sweet, bitter, and that is everything.

I thank fate for having made me born poor. Poverty taught me the true value of the gifts useful to life.

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.