Quotes About Knowledge

Let us not kid ourselves; let us remember that literature is of no use whatever, except in the very special case of somebody's wishing to become, of all things, a Professor of Literature.

Writing history is like drinking an ocean and pissing a cupful.

What a scholar one might be if one knew well only some half a dozen books.

Non leggete, come fanno i bambini, per divertirvi, o, come fanno gli ambiziosi per istruirvi. No, leggete per vivere.

For six months, then, Emma, at fifteen years of age, made her hands dirty with books from old lending libraries.

Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times

Un homme, au contraire, ne devait-il pas tout connaître, exceller en des activités multiples, vous initier aux énergies de la passion, aus raffinements de la vie, à tous les mystères?

No, read in order to live.

One ought to know everything, to write. All of us scribblers are monstrously ignorant. If only we weren't lacking in stamina, what a rich field of ideas and similes we could tap! Books that have been the source of entire literatures, like Homer and Rabelais, contain the sum of all the knowledge of their times. They knew everything, those fellows, and we know nothing.

Here is true immorality: ignorance and stupidity; the devil is nothing but this.

However, all this reading had disturbed their brains.

Read in order to live

lo que nos demuestra, de paso, que los sacerdotes han estado siempre sumidos en una ignorancia ignominiosa, en la que se esfuerzan por hundir con ellos a los pueblos.

A man, on the contrary, should he not know everything, excel in manifold activities, initiate you into the energies of passion, the refinements of life, all mysteries? But this one taught nothing, knew nothing, wished nothing. He thought her happy; and she resented this easy calm, this serene heaviness, the very happiness she gave him.

Quels étaient son nom, sa demeure, sa vie, son passé ? Il souhaitait connaître les meubles de sa chambre, toutes les robes qu'elle avait portées, les gens qu'elle fréquentait ; et le désir de la possession physique même disparaissait sous une envie plus profonde, dans une curiosité douloureuse qui n'avait pas de limites.

Read in oreder to live

Earth has its boundaries, but human stupidity is limitless.

Our ignorance of history makes us vilify our own age.

No lean, como hacen los niños, para divertirse o, como los ambiciosos, para instruirse. No, lean para vivir.

We obtain merit only by our thirst for truth.

ought not a man to know everything, excel in numerous activities, initiate you in the forces of passion, in the refinements of life, in all the mysteries? But this one taught nothing, knew nothing, desired nothing. He believed her happy; and she resented him for this stolid calm, this serene dullness, for the very happiness that she gave him.

Whereas a man, surely, should know about everything; excel in a multitude of activities, introduce you to passion in all its force, to life in all its grace, initiate you into all mysteries! But this one had nothing to teach; knew nothing, wanted nothing.

But shouldn't a man know everything, excel at a host of different activities, initiate you into the intensities of passion, the refinements of life, all its mysteries? Yet this man taught her nothing, knew nothing, wished for nothing. He thought she was happy; and she resented him for that settled calm, that ponderous serenity, that very happiness which she herself brought him.

Classiques (les). On est censé les connaître.