The duty of literature is to note what counts, and to light up what is suited to the light. If it ceases to choose and to love, it becomes like a woman who gives herself without preference. – Anatole France
There are very honest people who do not think that they have had a bargain unless they have cheated a merchant. – Anatole France
War will disappear only when men shall take no part whatever in violence and shall be ready to suffer every persecution that their abstention will bring them. It is the only way to abolish war. – Anatole France
The extent of a palace is measured from east to west, or from north to south; but that of a literary work, from the earth to heaven; so that there may be found as much range and power of mind in a few pages… as in a whole epic poem. – Joseph Joubert (1754–1824), translated from French by George H. Calvert, 1