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The least one can say of power is that a vocation for it is suspicious.

Jean Rostand

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Jean Rostand
Age: 82 †
Born: 1894
Born: October 30
Died: 1977
Died: September 4
Biologist
Historian
Philosopher
Writer
Paris
France
Vocation
Least
Power
Suspicious

More quotes by Jean Rostand

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Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth.
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My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.
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Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains to be said.
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I should have no use for a paradise in which I should be deprived of the right to prefer hell.
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To be able to observe with a stranger's eye helps one to see with an artist's eye. What alienates us inspires.
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It is horrible to see everything that one detested in the past coming back wearing the colors of the future.
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One must credit an hypothesis with all that has had to be discovered in order to demolish it.
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Greatness, in order to gain recognition, must all too often consent to ape greatness.
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Being right is less important to us than the freedom to be wrong.
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I don't judge a regime by the damning criticism of the opposition, but by the ingenuous praise of the partisan.
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We must watch over our modesty in the presence of those who cannot understand its grounds.
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It is sometimes well for a blatant error to draw attention to overmodest truths.
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What makes our opponents useful is that they allow us to believe that without them we would be able to realize our goals.
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It takes a very deep-rooted opinion to survive unexpressed.
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We bestow on others praise in which we do not believe, on condition that in return they bestow upon us praise in which we do.
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On tue un homme, on est un assassin. On tue des millions d'hommes, on est un conquérant. On les tue tous, on est un dieu. Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god.
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Prerequisite for rereadability in books: that they be forgettable.
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Le biologiste passe, la grenouille reste. The biologist passes, the frog remains.
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In our ideals we unwittingly reveal our vices.
Jean Rostand
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In order to remain true to oneself one ought to renounce one's party three times a day.
Jean Rostand