Jacques Barzun Quotes

I am by nature an optimist and by intellectual conviction a pessimist.

The belief of our Reason is an Exercise of Faith, and Faith is an Act of Reason.

Contradiction was something I really like when it is embraced in that kind of philosophy.

What is simple is wrong, and what is complicated cannot be understood.

I always used to say when I was on television that I prefer to be on stage and when on stage I prefer to do television. Typical human condition.

Ambivalence is a wonderful tune to dance to. It has a rhythm all its own.

I think we do good things and bad things, sometimes simultaneously - or they may be the same thing.

When people say 'love to hate', they actually mean 'love to be appalled by' - if they truly hated them, they'd never repeat a catch phrase.

The satirist is prevented by repulsion from gaining a better knowledge of the world he is attracted to, yet he is forced by attraction to concern himself with the world that repels him.

As much as I love boxing, I hate it. And as much as I hate it, I love it.

I like characters who are contradictory.

I both love and do not love; and am mad and not mad.

I am a misanthrope and yet utterly benevolent, have more than one screw loose yet am a super-idealist who digests philosophy more efficiently than food.

The best ideas make you want to say 'yes' and 'no' in the same breath.

I think I am intrigued by paradoxes. If something seems to be a paradox, it has something deeper, something worth exploring.

The joy and the pain for me is about tightroping between being a cynic and being a romantic - the tug between barely believing in anything and hoping for everything.

I always call myself either an optimistic pessimist or a pessimistic optimist - I'm not sure which way it goes.

It's a weird dynamic - I guess there is a fine line between hope and sadness. Sometimes you can be feeling both at the same time.

There are many who feel consciously hopeful and unconsciously hopeless, and there are few for whom it is the other way around.

Paradoxes are useful to attract attention to ideas.

I consider myself a natural optimist. I like the dark side of things.

The world is awful but also the world is beautiful. Human beings are awful, but ultimately human beings are tremendous.

Which path do you intend to take, Nell?' said the Constable, sounding very interested. 'Conformity or rebellion?' Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded - they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity.

Is there such thing as a cheerful pessimist? That's what I am.

All true knowledge contradicts common sense.