One makes mistakes; that is life. But it is never a mistake to have loved.
Romain RollandRead
I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in it even more so.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote criticizes those who glorify war without understanding its true horrors.
Romain Rolland expresses a strong disdain for war while emphasizing that the real issue lies with those who romanticize it without having experienced its brutal realities. He suggests that praising war is a shallow and irresponsible act, as only those who endure its consequences can truly grasp its detestable nature.
Themes
WarPraiseHorrorParticipationCriticism
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on military history, this quote can highlight the dangers of glorifying war.
More from Romain Rolland
All quotes βThe greatest human ideal is the great cause of bringing together the thoughts of Europe and Asia; the great soul of India will topple our world.
Romain RollandRead
Discussion is impossible with someone who claims not to seek the truth, but already to possess it.
Romain RollandRead
Skepticism, riddling the faith of yesterday, prepared the way for the faith of tomorrow.
Romain RollandRead
Each man must learn his own ideal and try to accomplish it: that is a surer way of progress than to take the ideas of another.
Romain RollandRead
The true Vedantic spirit does not start out with a system of preconceived ideas. It possesses absolute liberty and unrivalled courage among religions with regard to the facts to be observed and the diverse hypotheses it has laid down for their coordination. Never having been hampered by a priestly order, each man has been entirely free to search wherever he pleased for the spiritual explanation of the spectacle of the universe.
Romain RollandRead
Similar quotes
You'll be pleased to hear, Christopher, that I am no longer a Muslim liberal but an atheist [....] I find that it obviates the necessity for any cognitive dissonance.
Ayaan Hirsi AliRead
His lordship may compel us to be equal upstairs, but there will never be equality in the servants' hall.
James M. BarrieRead
Language is the archives of history.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Great men are almost always bad men.
Lord ActonRead
If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we'd live like animals or angels in the happy land that /needs/ no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all... why then perhaps we /must/ stand fast a little --even at the risk of being heroes.
Robert BoltRead
I've never meditated in my life. I don't practice yoga nor any religion. I'm a tourist on the realm of stillness.
Pico IyerRead