That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.
Paul ValeryRead
That which has been believed by everyone, always and everywhere, has every chance of being false.
Interpretation
Common beliefs are not necessarily true.
This quote by Paul Valery suggests a critical perspective on widely accepted notions. It highlights how the prevalence of a belief does not guarantee its truth, urging individuals to think independently and question the validity of commonly held ideas.
In practice
In a speech about scientific skepticism, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of questioning accepted norms.
That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.
Oh, hasten not this loving act, Rapture where self and not-self meet: My life has been the awaiting you, Your footfall was my own heart's beat.
The history of thought may be summed up in these words: it is absurd by what it seeks and great by what it finds.
The world acquires value only through its extremes and endures only through moderation; extremists make the world great, the moderates give it stability.
It would be impossible to "love" anyone or anything one knew completely. Love is directed towards what lies hidden in its object.
You have certainly observed the curious fact that a given word which is perfectly clear when you hear it or use it in everyday language, and which does not give rise to any difficulty when it is engaged in the rapid movement of an ordinary sentence becomes magically embarrassing, introduces a strange resistance, frustrates any effort at definition as soon as you take it out of circulation to examine it separately and look for its meaning after taking away its instantaneous function.
He [Napoleon] was as great as a man can be without morality.
In the modern world, in which thousands of people are dying every hour as a consequence of politics, no writing anywhere can begin to be credible unless it is informed by political awareness and principles. Writers who have neither product utopian trash.
There is such a thing as man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.
The body is a reservoir of all sorts of tensions and dark forces. And it's also the potential source of amazing energy. This thing wants to live. It is a powerful engine. The brain (is) a reservoir of images, dreams, fears, associations, language. And its potential we can't even begin to understand. Movement begins to negotiate the distance between the brain and the body and it can be surprising what we learn about each other.
The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.
No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.
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