Mathematicians are like lovers. Grant a mathematician the least principle, and he will draw from it a consequence which you must also grant him, and from this consequence another.
BERNARD LE BOVIER DE FONTENELLETo despise theory is to have the excessively vain pretension to do without knowing what one does, and to speak without knowing what one says.
More Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle Quotes
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Hardly anyone knows how much is gained by ignoring the future.
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It takes time to ruin a world, but time is all it takes.
BERNARD LE BOVIER DE FONTENELLE -
I shall leave the world without regret, for it hardly contains a single good listener.
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A philosopher will not believe what he sees because he is too busy speculating about what he does not see.
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Modesty in women has two special advantages,–it enhances beauty and veils uncomeliness.
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Our sun enlightens the planets that belong to him; why may not every fixed star also have planets to which they give light?
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Women react differently: a French woman who sees herself betrayed by her husband will kill his mistress; an Italian will kill her husband; a Spaniard will kill both; and a German will kill herself.
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There are three things I have loved but never understood. Art, music and women.
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I hate war, for it spoils conversation.
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A well-cultivated mind is, so to speak, made up of all the minds of preceding ages; it is only one single mind which has been educated during all this time.
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If I had my hand full of truth, I would take good care how I opened it.
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It is beauty that begins to please, and tenderness that completes the cbarm.
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In vain we shall penetrate more and more deeply the secrets of the structure of the human body, we shall not dupe nature; we shall die as usual.
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The judgment may be compared to a clock or watch, where the most ordinary machine is sufficient to tell the hours; but the most elaborate alone can point out the minutes and seconds, and distinguish the smallest differences of time.
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I detest war; it ruins conversation
BERNARD LE BOVIER DE FONTENELLE