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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.

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
Judgment
Built
Ideal
Whose
Basis
Certain
Bases
Men
Ideals
Think
Image
Thinking
Worse

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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 is not easy to imagine how little interested a scientist usually is in the work of any other, with the possible exception of the teacher who backs him or the student who honors him.
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When a scientist is ahead of his times, it is often through misunderstanding of current, rather than intuition of future truth. In science there is never any error so gross that it won't one day, from some perspective, appear prophetic.
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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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Greatness, in order to gain recognition, must all too often consent to ape greatness.
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Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth.
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We must watch over our modesty in the presence of those who cannot understand its grounds.
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Prerequisite for rereadability in books: that they be forgettable.
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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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Already at the origin of the species man was equal to what he was destined to become.
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Science had better not free the minds of men too much, before it has tamed their instincts.
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I prefer the honest jargon of reality to the outright lies of books.
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Kill one man, and you are murderer.
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Beauty in art is often nothing but ugliness subdued.
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In order to remain true to oneself one ought to renounce one's party three times a day.
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To love an idea is to love it a little more than one should.
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Truth is always served by great minds, even if they fight it.
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Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god.
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We find it easy to believe that praise is sincere: why should anyone lie in telling us the truth?
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Theories pass. The frog remains.
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