1894-1977, French Biologist, Writer
A body of work such as Pasteur's is inconceivable in our time: no man would be given a chance to create a whole science. Nowadays a path is scarcely opened up when the crowd begins to pour in.
Jean Rostand – [Science and Scientists]
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.
Jean Rostand – [Power]
A man is not old as long as he is seeking something.
Jean Rostand – [Age and Aging]
Beauty in art is often nothing but ugliness subdued.
Jean Rostand – [Beauty]
Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains to be said.
Jean Rostand – [Aphorisms and Epigrams]
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.
Jean Rostand – [Mistakes]
God, that checkroom of our dreams.
Jean Rostand – [God]
God, that dumping ground of our dreams.
Jean Rostand – [God]
Greatness, in order to gain recognition, must all too often consent to ape greatness.
Jean Rostand – [Greatness]
I don't judge a regime by the damning criticism of the opposition, but by the ingenuous praise of the partisan.
Jean Rostand – [Government]
I prefer the honest jargon of reality to the outright lies of books.
Jean Rostand – [Reality]
I should have no use for a paradise in which I should be deprived of the right to prefer hell.
Jean Rostand – [Paradise]
I still understand a few words in life, but I no longer think they make a sentence.
Jean Rostand – [Understanding]
I think I am one of those who can manage not to take on a completely different appearance under their own glance.
Jean Rostand – [Self-image]
In order to remain true to oneself one ought to renounce one's party three times a day.
Jean Rostand – [Politicians and Politics]
In politics, yesterday's lie is attacked only to flatter today's.
Jean Rostand – [Politicians and Politics]
It is not easy to imagine how little interested a scientist usually is in the work of any other, with the possible exception of the teacher who backs him or the student who honors him.
Jean Rostand – [Science and Scientists]
It is sometimes important for science to know how to forget the things she is surest of.
Jean Rostand – [Science and Scientists]
It is sometimes well for a blatant error to draw attention to overmodest truths.
Jean Rostand – [Mistakes]
It may offend us to hear our own thoughts expressed by others: we are not sure enough of their souls.
Jean Rostand – [Agreement]