JEAN ROSTAND

It takes a very deep-rooted opinion to survive unexpressed.

Theories pass. The frog remains.

Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains to be said.

My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.

Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth.

One must either take an interest in the human situation or else parade before the void.

Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.

Take heed of critics even when they are not fair; resist them even when they are.

A body of work such as Pasteur's is inconceivable in our time: no man would be given a chance to create a whole science. Nowadays a path is scarcely opened up when the crowd begins to pour in.

I prefer the honest jargon of reality to the outright lies of books.

I think I am one of those who can manage not to take on a completely different appearance under their own glance.

In politics, yesterday's lie is attacked only to flatter today's.

Hatred, for the man who is not engaged in it, is a little like the odor of garlic for one who hasn't eaten any.

Falsity cannot keep an idea from being beautiful; there are certain errors of such ingenuity that one could regret their not ranking among the achievements of the human mind.

I still understand a few words in life, but I no longer think they make a sentence.

We must watch over our modesty in the presence of those who cannot understand its grounds.

One must credit an hypothesis with all that has had to be discovered in order to demolish it.

A few great minds are enough to endow humanity with monstrous power, but a few great hearts are not enough to make us worthy of using it.

A married couple are well suited when both partners usually feel the need for a quarrel at the same time.

We spend our time envying people whom we wouldn't wish to be.

It is sometimes important for science to know how to forget the things she is surest of.

There are moments when very little truth would be enough to shape opinion. One might be hated at extremely low cost.

A man is not old as long as he is seeking something.

Beauty in art is often nothing but ugliness subdued.

There are certain moments when we might wish the future were built by men of the past.