Quote #1
To be free in an age like ours, one must be in a position of authority. That in itself would be enough to make me ambitious.
Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.
More from Ernest Renan
- As a rule, all heroism is due to a lack of reflection, and thus it is necessary to maintain a mass of imbeciles. If they once understand th…
- He whom God has touched will always be a being apart: he is, whatever he may do, a stranger among men; he is marked by a sign.
- In morals, truth is but little prized when it is a mere sentiment, and only attains its full value when realized in the world as fact.
- Never has any one been less a priest than Jesus, never a greater enemy of forms, which stifle religion under the pretext of protecting it. …
- To conceive the good, in fact, is not sufficient; it must be made to succeed among men. To accomplish this less pure paths must be followed.
- Let us pardon him his hope of a vain apocalypse, and of a second coming in great triumph upon the clouds of heaven. Perhaps these were the …
- I can die when I wish to: that is my elixir of life.
- You may take great comfort from the fact that suffering inwardly for the sake of truth proves abundantly that one loves it and marks one ou…