Jean Rostand Quotes - Page 2

Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth.

We give others praise which we ourselves don't believe, as long as they respond with praise we can believe.

To be adult is to be alone.

The ideal, without doubt, varies, but its enemies, alas, are always the same.

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

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.

On the brink of being satiated, desire still appears infinite.

Literature: proclaiming in front of everyone what one is careful to conceal from one's immediate circle

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

Le biologiste passe, la grenouille reste. The biologist passes, the frog remains.

To be able to observe with a stranger's eye helps one to see with an artist's eye. What alienates us inspires.

The books one has written in the past have two surprises in store: one couldn't write them again, and wouldn't want to.

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

To reflect is to disturb one's thoughts.

Prerequisite for rereadability in books: that they be forgettable.

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

We find it easy to believe that praise is sincere: why should anyone lie in telling us the truth?

Kill one man and you're a murderer, kill a million and you're a conqueror.

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.

To say of men that they are bad is to say they are worse than we think we are, or worse than the ideal man whose image we have built up on the basis of a certain few.

Kill one man, and you are murderer.

There are things that don't deserve to be said briefly.

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

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.

Truth is always served by great minds, even if they fight it.