List of Ernest Renan Quotes

It Is Evident, Indeed, That Such A Doctrine, Taken By Itself In A Literal Manner, Had No Future. The World, In Continuing To Exist, Caused It To Crumble. One Generation Of Man At The Most Was The Limit Of Its Endurance. The Faith Of The First Christian Generation Is Intelligible, But The Faith Of The Second Generation Is No Longer So. After The Death Of John, Or Of The Last Survivor, Whoever He Might Be, Of The Group Which Had Seen The Master, The Word Of Jesus Was Convicted Of Falsehood.

I Can Die When I Wish To: That Is My Elixir Of Life.

History Is As Much An Art As A Science.

All The Great Things Of Humanity Have Been Accomplished In The Name Of Absolute Principles.

Sometimes They Reasoned Thus: "the Messiah Ought To Do Such A Thing, Now Jesus Is The Messiah, Therefore Jesus Has Done Such A Thing." At Other Times, By An Inverse Process, It Was Said: "such A Thing Has Happened To Jesus; Now Jesus Is The Messiah; Therefore Such A Thing Was To Happen To The Messiah."

The Greatest Men Of A Nation Are Those It Puts To Death.

The Only Way Of Salvation For The World Is By Returning To Thy Allegiance.... Firm In My Faith, I Shall Have Force To Withstand My Evil Counsellors, My Skepticism, Which Leads Me To Doubt Of The People, My Restless Spirit Which, After Truth Has Been Brought To Light, Impels To Go On Searching For It.

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 Out As Being Of The Elect.

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. By This We Are All His Disciples And His Successors; By This He Has Laid The Eternal Foundation-stone Of True Religion; And If Religion Is Essential To Humanity, He Has By This Deserved The Divine Rank The World Has Accorded Him.

Morality Has Been Conceived Up To The Present In A Very Narrow Spirit, As Obedience To A Law, As Inner Struggle Between Opposite Laws. As For Me, I Declare That When I Do Good I Obey No One, I Fight No Battle And Win No Victory. The Cultivated Person Has Only To Follow The Delicious Incline Of His Or Her Inner Impulses. Be Beautiful And Then Do At Each Moment Whatever Your Heart May Inspire You To Do. This Is The Whole Of Morality.

Jesus Was The Greatest Religious Genius That Ever Lived.

His Glory Jesus Christ Does Not Consist In Beingplaced Without The Confines Of History; A More Real Worship Is Paid To Him, By Showing That The Whole Of History Is Incomprehensible Without Him.