Thursday, May 10, 2007

Wisdom of Jean Rostand, French biologist and philosopher (1894-1977)

Falsity cannot keep an idea from being beautiful; there are certain errors of such ingenuity that one could regret their not ranking among the achievements of the human mind.

God, that dumping ground of our dreams.

One must either take an interest in the human situation or else parade before the void.

It is sometimes important for science to know how to forget the things she is surest of.

I prefer the honest jargon of reality to the outright lies of books.

I should have no use for a paradise in which I should be deprived of the right to prefer hell.

In order to remain true to oneself one ought to renounce one's party three times a day.

In politics, yesterday's lie is attacked only to flatter today's.

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.

Science has made us gods even before we are worthy of being men.

Theories pass. The frog remains.

There are certain moments when we might wish the future were built by men of the past.

Think? Why think! We have computers to do that for us.

Truth is always served by great minds, even if they fight it.

It takes a very deep-rooted opinion to survive unexpressed.

My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.

Never feel remorse for what you have thought about your wife; she has thought much worse things about you.

The divine is perhaps that quality in man which permits him to endure the lack of God.

A few great minds are enough to endow humanity with monstrous power, but a few great hearts are not enough to make us worthy of using it.

A man is not old as long as he is seeking something.

A married couple are well suited when both partners usually feel the need for a quarrel at the same time.