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

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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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Stupidity, outrage, vanity, cruelty, iniquity, bad faith, falsehood - we fail to see the whole array when it is facing in the same direction as we.
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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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It is sometimes well for a blatant error to draw attention to overmodest truths.
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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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It is horrible to see everything that one detested in the past coming back wearing the colors of the future.
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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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Being right is less important to us than the freedom to be wrong.
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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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There are certain moments when we might wish the future were built by men of the past.
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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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Science had better not free the minds of men too much, before it has tamed their instincts.
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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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Theories pass. The frog remains.
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Quotations--always inexact. I don't trust people who cannot even copy out.
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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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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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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