Quotes by
Ernest Renan |
1823-1892 , French philosopher & historian
A French Orientalist, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philosopher, biblical scholar and critic. He wrote influential and pioneering historical works on the origins of early Christianity, and followed popular political theories about nationalism and national identity.
He was one of the first scholars to advance the Khazar theory, according to which Ashkenazi Jews were descendants of the Khazars (a medieval people in modern south Ukraine).
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Quotations
| • | The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which Archimedes would have sacrificed his life. 7 |
| • | All history is incomprehensible without Christ. 4 |
| • | The epic disappeared along with the age of personal heroism; there can be no epic with artillery. 3 |
| • | As a rule, all heroism is due to a lack of reflection, and thus it is necessary to maintain a mass of imbeciles. If they once understand themselves the ruling men will be lost. |
| • | Getting its history wrong is part of being a nation. |
| • | Our opinions become fixed at the point where we stop thinking. |
| • | Oblivion, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation. |
| • | A nation is a body of people who have done great things together. |
| • | Man makes holy what he believes as he makes beautiful what he loves. |
| • | The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half true. |
| • | When people complain of life, it is almost always because they have asked impossible things of it. |
| • | The prayer of the agnostic: “O God, if there is a God, save my soul if I have a soul.” |
| • | It is through Christianity that Judaism has really conquered the world. Christianity is the masterpiece of Judaism. |
| • | A grain of sand leads to the fall of a mountain when the moment has come for the mountain to fall. |
| • | Let us remember that sorrow alone is the creator of great things. |
| • | Relax yourself from one job by doing a different one. |
| • | He whom God has touched will always be a being apart: he is, whatever he may do, a stranger among men; he is marked by a sign. |
| • | The man who obeys is nearly always better than the man who commands. |
| • | Religion is not a popular error; it is a great instinctive truth, sensed by the people, expressed by the people. |
| • | Honest people are the aristocrats of modern era. |
