Quote

Men of genius supply the substance of history, while the mass of men are but the critical filter, the limiting, slackening, passive force needed for the modification of ideas supplied by genius.

Henri Frederic Amiel

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Henri Frederic Amiel
Age: 59 †
Born: 1821
Born: September 27
Died: 1881
Died: May 11
Diarist
Literary Critic
Philosopher
Poet
Translator
University Teacher
Writer
Genève
Henri-Frederic Amiel
Henri Frédéric Amiel
Genius
Filter
Needed
Limiting
Force
Filters
History
Supply
Ideas
Passive
Men
Substance
Critical
Supplied
Mass
Modification

More quotes by Henri Frederic Amiel

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Let us be true: this is the highest maxim of art and of life, the secret of eloquence and of virtue, and of all moral authority.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Philosophy means the complete liberty of the mind.
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I am a spectator, so to speak, of the molecular whirlwind which men call individual life I am conscious of an incessant metamorphosis, an irresistible movement of existence, which is going on within me - and this phenomenology of myself serves as a window opened upon the mystery of the world.
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There is only one way of not hating those who do us wrong, and that is by doing them good.
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To win true peace, a man needs to feel himself directed, pardoned, and sustained by a supreme power, to feel himself in the right road, at the point where God would have him be - in order with God and the universe. This faith gives strength and calm.
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War is a brutal and fierce means of pacification it means the suppression of resistance by the destruction or enslavement of the conquered.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Righteous ends, thus approved, absolve of guilt the most violent means.
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Every man is a priest, even involuntarily his conduct is an unspoken sermon, which is forever preaching to others.
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Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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A modest garden contains, for those who know how to look and to wait, more instruction than a library.
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The tragic solemnity of existence strikes us with terrible force on that morning when we wake to find the mournful words too late ringing in our ears.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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There are 2 sorts of pride: one in which we approve others, the other in which we cannot accept ourselves.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Hope is only the love of life.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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What governs men is the fear of truth.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Truth is not only violated by falsehood it may be equally outraged by silence.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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There is an illusion of central position, justifying one's own purposes as right and everybody else¹s as wrong, and providing a proper degree of paranoia. Righteous ends, thus approved, absolve of guilt the most violent means.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Nothing resembles pride so much as discouragement.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family. She carries its destiny in the folds of her mantle.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Man is saved by love and duty, and by the hope that springs from duty, or rather from the moral facts of consciousness, as a flower springs from the soil.
Henri Frederic Amiel