Julien Benda Quotes

Nothing seems to me more doubtful than Aristotle's remark that it is probable the arts and philosophy have several times been discovered and several times lost.

The man of science, the artist, the philosopher are attached to their nations as much as the day-laborer and the merchant.

I shall go further and say that even if an examination of the past could lead to any valid prediction concerning man's future, that prediction would be the contrary of reassuring.

It may be said that modern Europe with teachers who inform it that its realist instincts are beautiful, acts ill and honors what is ill.

And History will smile to think that this is the species for which Socrates and Jesus Christ died.

Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war but on the love of peace.

The modern clercs have created in so-called cultivated society a positive romanticism of harshness. The have also created a romanticism of contempt.

The modern moralists extol ... the cult of practical activity in defiance of the disinterested life.

Peace is only possible if men cease to place their happiness in the possession of things which cannot be shared.