Ernest Renan

Religion is not a popular error; it is a great instinctive truth, sensed by the people, expressed by the people.

The epic disappeared along with the age of personal heroism; there can be no epic with artillery.

Good-humor is a philosophic state of mind; it seems to say to Nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us.

War is a condition of progress; the whip-cut that prevents a country from going to sleep and forces satisfied mediocrity to shake off its apathy.

The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half-true.