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

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One kills a man, one is an assassin one kills millions, one is a conqueror one kills everybody, one is a god.
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Beauty in art is often nothing but ugliness subdued.
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My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.
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The books one has written in the past have two surprises in store: one couldn't write them again, and wouldn't want to.
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The biologist passes. The frog stays the same.
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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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Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth.
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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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It is sometimes well for a blatant error to draw attention to overmodest truths.
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When I was young I pitied the old. Now old, it is the young I pity.
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On the brink of being satiated, desire still appears infinite.
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There are big and little truths, but all belong to the same race.
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Quotations--always inexact. I don't trust people who cannot even copy out.
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Truth is always served by great minds, even if they fight it.
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God, that checkroom of our dreams.
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Far too often the choices reality proposes are such as to take away one's taste for choosing.
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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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Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains to be said.
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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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