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The Greatness Of A Popular Character Is Less According To The Ratio Of His Genius Than The Sympathy He Shows With The Prejudices And Even The Absurdities Of His Time. Fanatics Do Not Select The Cleverest But The Most Fanatical Leaders As Was Evidenced In The Choice Of Robespierre By The French Jacobins, And In That Of Cromwell By The English Puritans.

-Alphonse De Lamartine

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The Greatness Of A

Alphonse De Lamartine

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The Greatness Of A Popular Character Is Less According To The Ratio Of His Genius Than The Sympathy He Shows With The Prejudices And Even The Absurdities Of His Time. Fanatics Do Not Select The Cleverest But The Most Fanatical Leaders As Was Evidenced In The Choice Of Robespierre By The French Jacobins, And In That Of Cromwell By The English Puritans.

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There Are Places And Climates, Seasons And Hours, With Their Outward Circumstance, So Much In Harmony With Certain Impressions Of The Heart, That Nature And The Soul Of Man Appear To Be Parts Of One Vast Whole.

If Greatness Of Purpose, Smallness Of Means, And Astonishing Results Are The Three Criteria Of A Human Genius, Who Could Dare Compare Any Great Man In History With Muhammad? The Most Famous Men Created Arms, Laws, And Empires Only. They Founded, If Anything At All, No More Than Material Powers Which Often Crumbled Away Before Their Eyes. This Man Moved Not Only Armies, Legislations, Empires, Peoples, Dynasties, But Millions Of Men In One-third Of The Then Inhabited World; And More Than That, He Moved The Altars, The Gods, The Religions, The Ideas, The Beliefs And The Souls.

It Is Because Of The Servility Of Photography That I Am Fundamentally Contemptuous Of This Chance Invention Which Will Never Be An Art But Which Plagiarizes Nature By Means Of Optics. (1848)

It Is The Qualities Of The Heart, Not Those Of The Face, That Should Attract Us In Women, Because The Former Are Durable, The Latter Transitory. So Lovable Women, Like Roses, Retain Their Sweetness Long After They Have Lost Their Beauty.

France Is Revolutionary Or She Is Nothing At All. The Revolution Of1789 Is Her Political Religion.

If One Had But A Single Glance To Give The World, One Should Gaze On Istanbul.

Ah! Let Us Love, My Love, For Time Is Heartless, Be Happy While You May!

Sentiment Is The Poetry Of The Imagination.

Virginity Is The Poetry, Not The Reality, Of Life.

After His Blood, That Which A Man Can Next Give Out Of Himself Is A Tear.

Poetry Has Been The Guardian Angel Of Humanity In All Ages.

The Founder Of Twenty Terrestrial Empires And Of One Spiritual Empire, That Is Muhammed. As Regards All Standards By Which Human Greatness May Be Measured, We May Well Ask, Is There Any Man Greater Than He?

Religions Are Not Proved, Are Not Demonstrated, Are Not Established, Are Not Overthrown By Logic! They Are Of All The Mysteries Of Nature And The Human Mind, The Most Mysterious And Most Inexplicable; They Are Of Instinct And Not Of Reason.

Habit With It's Iron Sinews, Clasps Us And Leads Us Day By Day.

If They Say "you Have Your Last Chance To Look At The World", I Wish That Look Would From Çamlıca Of Istanbul.

Treason, Which Begins By Being Cautious, Ends By Betraying Itself.

Yet, In These Autumn Days When Nature Expires, Here, In These Veiled Scenes, I Find More Attractions; It Is A Friend's Sad Goodbye; It Is The Last Smile From Lips That Death Is Going To Close Forever!

The Death Of A Man's Wife Is Like Cutting Down An Ancient Oak That Has Long Shaded The Family Mansion. Henceforth The Glare Of The World, With Its Cares And Vicissitudes Falls Upon The Old Widower's Heart, And There Is Nothing To Break Their Force, Or Shield Him From The Full Weight Of Misfortune. It Is As If His Right Hand Were Withered; As If One Wing Of His Angel Was Broken, And Every Movement That He Made Brought Him To The Ground.

Esteem Incites Friendship, But Not Love; The Former Is The Twin Brother Of Reverence; The Latter Is The Child Of Equality.

Poets And Heroes Are Of The Same Race, The Latter Do What The Former Conceive.

Man Is Born Barbarous--he Is Ransomed From The Condition Of Beasts Only By Being Cultivated.

Love Is The Enchanted Dawn Of Every Heart.

Mystery Hovers Over All Things Here Below.

Modesty And Dew Love The Shade.

Kindness Is Virtue Itself.

There Is A Woman At The Begining Of All Great Things.

Shall Not This Bygone Eden That We Knew In Our Eternal Life Have Shape And Hue? For Where Time Is Not Shall Not All Time Be? In That Calm Breast Whereto Our Souls Are Cleaving Shall We Not Find Our Loved Ones Beyond Grieving About The Hearth-stone Of Eternity?

Time Is A Great Ocean Which, Like The Other Ocean, Overflows With Our Remains.

The More I See Of The Representatives Of The People, The More I Admire My Dogs.

Man, Man, Is Thy Brother, And Thy Father Is God.

Poetry Is The Morning Dream Of Great Minds.

We Are Earth's Children, And Life Is The Same In Sap As In Blood; All That The Earth, Our Mother, Feels And Expresses To The Eye By Her Form And Aspect, In Melancholy Or In Splendor, Finds An Echo Within Us.

Life Is Too Short To Spare An Hour Of It In The Indulgence Of This Evil Passion.

Life Is Too Short

The People Only Understand What They Can Feel; The Only Orators That Can Affect Them Are Those Who Move Them.

Fiction Is The Microscope Of Truth.

A Conscience Without God Is Like A Court Without A Judge.

All Nature Is The Temple; Earth The Altar.

Argument Should Be Polite As Well As Logical.

We Cannot Have Two Hearts, One For The Animals And One For Men. In Cruelty Towards The Former And Cruelty To The Latter There Is No Difference But In The Victim.

I Am The Fellow Citizen Of Every Being That Thinks; My Country Is Truth.

Man Hath No Heaven And Time's Coast Is Chartless. He Speeds; We Pass Away!

What Is Our Life But A Succession Of Preludes To That Unknown Song Whose First Solemn Note Is Sounded By Death?

We Don't Have Two Hearts, One For Animals And One For Humans ; We Have One Heart Or We Don't Have Any.

History Is Neither More Nor Less Than Biography On A Large Scale.

Reading Furnishes The Mind Only With Materials Of Knowledge; It Is Thinking That Makes What We Read Ours. I Am The Fellow Citizen Of Every Being That Thinks; My Country Is Truth.

If God Is Thy Father, Human Beings Are Thy Brothers And Sisters.

It Is In The Habits Of Lawyers That Every Accusation Appears Insufficient If They Do Not Exaggerate It Even To Calumny; It Is Thus That Justice Itself Loses Its Sanctity And Its Respect Amongst Men.

God - But A Word Invoked To Explain The World.

Let Us Enjoy The Fugitive Hour. Man Has No Harbor, Time Has No Shore; It Rushes On, And Carries Us With It.

Before This Century Shall Run Out, Journalism Will Be The Whole Press. Mankind Will Write Their Book Day By Day, Hour By Hour, Page By Page. Thought Will Spread Abroad With The Rapidity Of Light--instantly Conceived, Instantly Written, Instantly Understood At The Extremities Of The Earth.

Private Passions Grow Tired And Wear Themselves Out; Political Passions, Never.

Women Have Much More Heart And Much More Imagination Than Men; Hence, Fancy Often Allures Them.

Friendship, Sweet-resting Place Of The Soul, The Gloaming Wherein Our Hearts Find Peace.

Chance Often Gives Us That Which We Should Not Have Presumed To Ask.

Unanimity Is The Mistress Of Strength.

History Teaches Everything, Even The Future.

Radicalism Is But The Desperation Of Logic.

Sad Is His Lot, Who, Once At Least In His Life, Has Not Been A Poet.

All Our Tastes Are But Reminiscences.

Brutality To An Animal Is Cruelty To Mankind - It Is Only The Difference In The Victim.

Music Is The Literature Of The Heart; It Commences Where Speech Ends.

My Dog! The Difference Between Thee And Me Knows Only Our Creator.

A Woman's Strength Is Most Potent When Robed In Gentleness.

Let Us Savour The Swift Delights Of The Most Beautiful Of Our Days!

I Am Persuaded That If The Brutes Even--if The Dog, The Horse, The Ox, The Elephant, The Bird, Could Speak, They Would Confess, That, At The Bottom Of Their Nature, Their Instincts, Their Sensations, Their Obtuse Intelligence, Assisted By Organs Less Perfect Than Ours, There Is A Clouded, Secret Sentiment Of This Existence Of A Superior And Primordial Being, From Whom All Emanates, And To Whom All Returns.

Silence And Simplicity Obtrude On No One, But Are Yet Two Unequaled Attractions In Woman.

Every Time That A People Which Has Long Crouched In Slavery And Ignorance Is Moved To Its Lowest Depths There Appear Monsters And Heroes, Prodigies Of Crime And Prodigies Of Virtue.

Enthusiasm Is The Intoxication Of Earnestness.

Private Passions Tire And Exhaust Themselves, Public Ones Never.

Ink Is The Transcript Of Thought.

The Attractiveness That Exists To Man In The Very Helplessness Of Woman Is Scarcely Realized.

Death, With Funereal Shades In Vain Surrounds Me, My Reason Through His Darkness Seeth Light: 'tis The Last Step Which Brings Me Close To Thee: 'tis The Veil Falling, 'twixt Thy Face And Mine.

The Impartiality Of History Is Not That Of The Mirror, Which Merely Reflects Objects, But Of The Judge, Who Sees, Listens, And Decides.

I Love The People Because I Believe In God. For, If I Did Not Believe In God, What Would The People Be To Me? I Should Enjoy At Ease That Lucky Throw Of The Dice, Which Chance Had Turned Up For Me, The Day Of My Birth; And, With A Secret, Savage Joy, I Should Say, "so Much The Worse For The Losers!--the World Is A Lottery. Woe To The Conquered!

Men Are Misers, And Women Prodigal, In Affection.

Enthusiasm Springs From The Imagination, And Self-sacrifice From The Heart. Women Are, Therefore, More Naturally Heroic Than Men. All Nations Have In Their Annals Some Of These Miracles Of Patriotism, Of Which Woman Is The Instrument In The Hands Of God.

Providence Conceals Itself In The Details Of Human Affairs, But Becomes Unveiled In The Generalities Of History.

Experience Is The Only Prophecy Of Wise Men.

Good Manners Require Space And Time.

The Greatness Of A Popular Character Is Less According To The Ratio Of His Genius Than The Sympathy He Shows With The Prejudices And Even The Absurdities Of His Time. Fanatics Do Not Select The Cleverest But The Most Fanatical Leaders As Was Evidenced In The Choice Of Robespierre By The French Jacobins, And In That Of Cromwell By The English Puritans.

Inspiration Is Solitary, Never Consecutive.

It Is For Truth That God Created Genius.

Void Of Freedom, What Would Virtue Be?

Civil Wars Leave Nothing But Tombs.

Utopias Are Often Just Premature Truths.

God Has Placed The Genius Of Women In Their Hearts, Because The Works Of This Genius Are Always Works Of Love.

Man, It Seems, Is Not Able To Bear The Languid Rest On Nature's Bosom, And When The Trumpet Sounds The Signal Of Danger, He Hastens To Join His Comrades, No Matter What The Cause That Calls Him To Arms. He Rushes Into The Thickest Of The Fight, And Amid The Uproar Of The Battle Regains Confidence In Himself And His Powers.

The Photographer Will Never Replace The Painter; One Is A Man, The Other A Machine. Let Us Compare Them No Longer. (1848)

Hence Life, As Through A Cloud, For Me I See Vanish, And To The Past's Dark Shade 'tis Chas'd; As A Grand Image Love Remains To Me-- Sole Remnant Of A Dream, By Morn Effac'd.

To Love For The Sake Of Being Loved Is Human, But To Love For The Sake Of Loving Is Angelic.

Photography Is Better Than Art. It Is A Solar Phenomenon In Which The Artist Collaborates With The Sun.

Man Is God By His Faculty For Thought.

But Nature Too, Shakes Off Her Sleep Today; By May's Mild Sun We See Reviv'd Her Frame, Around My Window Venus' Birds Proclaim, The Month Most Cherish'd Backwards Bends His Way!

Limited In His Nature, Infinite In His Desires, Man Is A Fallen God Who Remembers The Heavens.

Assassination Makes Only Martyrs, Not Converts.

He, Who Can Create, Abhors Destruction.

The Most Effective Coquetry Is Innocence.

If Greatness Of Purpose, Smallness Of Means, And Astonishing Results Are The Three Criteria Of A Human Genius, Who Could Dare Compare Any Great Man In History With Muhammad?

The Reason That Women Are So Much More Sociable Than Men Is Because They Act More From The Heart Than The Intellect.

Love Of Country Produces Among Men Such Examples As Cincinnatus, Alfred, Washington--pure, Unselfish, Symmetrical; Among Women, Vittoria Colonna, Madame Roland, Charlotte Corday, Jeanne Darc--romantic, Devoted, Marvelous.

Republicanism And Ignorance Are In Bitter Antagonism.

Philosophy Is The Rational Expression Of Genius.

Joy Is A Flame Which Association Alone Can Keep Alive, And Which Goes Out Unless Communicated.

Nature Has Given Women Two Painful But Heavenly Gifts, Which Distinguish Them, And Often Raise Them Above Human Nature,--compassion And Enthusiasm. By Compassion, They Devote Themselves; By Enthusiasm They Exalt Themselves.

When A Dog Is In Your Life, There Is Always A Reason To Laugh.

Sometimes, Only One Person Is Missing, And The Whole World Seems Depopulated.

There Is A Name Hidden In The Shadow Of My Soul, Where I Read It Night And Day And No Other Eye Sees It.

Silence,--the Applause Of Real And Durable Impressions.

At Twenty Every One Is Republican.

And When Night, Guiding Her Bright Train Of Stars, Throws O'er The Sleeping World Her Gloomy Veil, Lonely Amidst The Desert And The Darkness, Musing Upon The Night's Calm Majesty; Wrapt Up In Quietness, With Shade And Silence, My Soul More Closely Worshippeth Thy Presence; With An Internal Day I Feel Enlighten'd, And Hear A Voice, Which Biddeth Me To Hope.

Thou Makest The Man, O Sorrow!--yes, The Whole Man,--as The Crucible Gold.

The People Will Not Allow Themselves To Be Changed Into Hogs By The Circes Of Atheism. Their Souls Will Flash Indignation Against Their Transformers. A Day Will Come When They Will See That They Are Impoverished Under The Pretext Of Being Enriched; That, When They Are Robbed Of Their Souls And Of God, Both Their Titles To Liberty Are Stolen From Them.

True Greatness Is Sovereign Wisdom. We Are Never Deceived By Our Virtues.

An Artist Should Have More Than Two Eyes.

There Is No Man More Complete Than The One Who Travelled A Lot, Who Changed The Shape Of His Thoughts And His Life Twenty Times.

The Loss Of A Mother Is Always Keenly Felt, Even If Her Health Be Such As To Incapacitate Her From Taking An Active Part In The Care Of The Family. She Is The Sweet Rallying-point For Affection, Obedience, And A Thousand Tendernesses. Dreary The Blank When She Is Withdrawn!

True Love Is The Ripe Fruit Of A Lifetime.

Eternity Is So Certain And So Terrible That A Thousand Lives Would Not Suffice To Prepare For It.

Let Us Love The Passing Hour, Let Us Hurry Up And Enjoy Our Time.

Newspapers Will Ultimately Engross All Literature.

Eloquence Dwells Quite As Much In The Hearts Of The Hearers As On The Lips Of The Orator.

Too Much I've Seen, And Felt, And Lov'd In Life, Living I Come To Seek Lethaean Calm; Let Me, Fair Scenes! Forget All Worldly Strife, Oblivion Solely Is My Bosom's Balm.

I Say To This Night: "pass More Slowly"; And The Dawn Will Come To Dispel The Night.

My Mother Was Convinced, And On This Head I Have Retained Her Firm Belief, That To Kill Animals For The Purpose Of Feeding On Their Flesh Is One Of The Most Deplorable And Shameful Infirmities Of The Human State; That It Is One Of Those Curses Cast Upon Man Either By His Fall, Or By The Obduracy Of His Own Perversity.

Grief Knits Two Hearts In Closer Bonds Than Happiness Ever Can; And Common Sufferings Are Far Stronger Links Than Common Joys.

What Mortal Is There, Over Whose First Joys And Happiness Does Not Break Some Storm, Dispelling With Its Icy Breath His Fanciful Illusions, And Shattering His Altar?

Barbarism Recommences By The Excess Of Civilization.

It Is Admirable To Die The Victim Of One's Faith; It Is Sad To Die The Dupe Of One's Ambition.

...to Kill Animals For The Purpose Of Feeding On Their Flesh Is One Of The Most Deplorable And Shameful Infirmities Of The Human State

Exquisite Beauty Resides Rather In The Female Form Than Face, Where It Is Also More Lasting.

Soul Of The Universe, Sire, God, Creator, Lord, I Believe In Thee, 'neath All These Names: And Without Having Need To Hear Thy Word, In The Sky's Brow My Glorious Creed I Trace.

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