Antoine de Rivarol

thumb|The people is often Nero, but never Marcus Aurelius. Antoine de Rivarol (26 June 1753 – 11 April 1801) was a Royalist French writer and translator who lived during the Revolutionary era. Quotes Les idées sont des fonds qui ne portent intérèt qu'entre les mains du talent. Ideas are a capital that bears interest only in the hands of talent. "Lettre sur l'ouvrage de Madame de Staël", in Œuvres complètes de Rivarol, Vol. II (Paris: Léopold Collin, 1808), p. 263 La religion unit les hommes dans les mêmes dogmes, la politique les unit dans les mêmes principes, et la philosophie les renvoie dans les bois; c'est le dissolvant de la société. Religion unites men in the same dogmas, politics unites them in the same principles, and philosophy sends them back into the woods; it is the dissolver of society. Esprit de Rivarol (Paris, 1808), p. 56 La politique est comme le sphinx de la fable, elle dévore tous ceux qui n'expliquent pas ses énigmes. Politics is like the sphinx of the fable; it devours all those who do not decipher its enigmas. Rivaroliana, ed. Charles Yves Cousin d'Avallon (Paris: J. M. Davi & Locard, 1812), p. 90 Le chat ne nous caresse pas, il se caresse à nous. A cat doesn't caress us, it caresses itself on us. Rivaroliana, ed. Charles Yves Cousin d'Avallon (Paris: J. M. Davi & Locard, 1812), p. 127 La raison est historienne, mais les passions sont actrices. Reason is a historian, but the passions are actors. Maximes et pensées, anecdotes et bons mots, in Œuvres choisies (Paris: Libraire des bibliophiles, 1880), Vol. I, p. 237 Le prince absolu peut être un Néron, mais il est quelquefois Titus ou Marc-Aurèle; le peuple est souvent Néron, et jamais Marc-Aurèl. The absolute ruler may be a Nero, but he is sometimes a Titus or a Marcus Aurelius; the people is often Nero, but never Marcus Aurelius. Maximes et pensées, anecdotes et bons mots, in Œuvres choisies (Paris: Libraire des bibliophiles, 1880), Vol. I, p. 225 Quoted by Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn in The Menace of the Herd (1943), p. 103 De l'universalité de la langue française (1784) De l'universalité de la langue française: Discours qui a remporté le Prix a l'Académie de Berlin (Berlin, 1784) C'est la prose qui donne l'empire à une Langue, parce qu'elle est tout usuelle; la poésie n'est qu'un objet de luxe. It is prose which gives sway to a language, because it is quite usual; poetry is only a luxury object. p. 27 L'homme qui parle est … l'homme qui pense tout haut. The man who speaks is the man who thinks out loud. p. 29 Tout le monde a besoin de la France, quand l'Angleterre a besoin de tout le monde. All the world needs France, while England needs all the world. p. 33 Ce qui n'est pas clair n'est pas français. What is not clear is not French. p. 49 Le langage est la peinture de nos idées. Language is the painting of our ideas. p. 69 Of Man, His Intellectual Faculties, and His Main Ideas (1797) Discours préliminaire du noveau dictionnaire de la langue française, Première partie: De l'homme, de ses facultés intellectuelles et de ses idées premières et fondamentales (Paris: Cocheris, 1797) L'être qui ne fait de sentir, ne pense pas encore; et l'être qui pense, sent toujours. The being that only feels does not yet think, and the being that thinks feels always. p. 17 La certitude et le mystère sont pour le sentiment; la clarté et l'incertitude pour le raisonnement. Certainty and mystery are for feeling; clarity and uncertainty for reasoning. p. 33 Dieu est la plus haute mesure de notre incapacité; l'universe, l'espace lui-même, ne sont pas si inaccessibles. God is the highest measure of our incapacity; the universe, space itself, are not so inaccessible. p. 47 L'imagination est amie de l'avenir. Imagination is a friend of the future. p. 123 C'est un terrible luxe que l'incredulité. Unbelief is a terrible luxury. p. 211 Attributed Treasury of Thought (1881) Quotes reported in Maturin M. Ballou, Treasury of Thought, 7th ed. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1881) History is only time furnished with dates and rich with events. "History", p. 234 We never shed so many tears as at the age of hope; but when we have lost hope, we look on everything with dry eyes, and tranquillity springs from incapacity. "Hope", p. 239 Man spends his life in reasoning on the past, complaining of the present, and trembling for the future. "Life", p. 300 Memory always obeys the commands of the heart. "Memory", p. 333 It has been very truly said that the mob has many heads, but no brains. "Mob", p. 345 The modest man has everything to gain, and the arrogant man everything to lose; for modesty has always to deal with generosity, and arrogance with envy. "Modesty", p. 347 It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit. "Mystery", p. 357 Oblivion is the rule, and fame the exception, of humanity. "Oblivion", p. 367 Obtuseness is sometimes a virtue. "Obtuseness", p. 368 The stampede of our self-possession. "Panic", p. 378 It is easy for men to write and talk like philosophers, but to act with wisdom, there is the rub! "Philosophy", p. 391 It is not he who searches for praise who finds it. "Praise", p. 408 Reason is an historian, but the passions are actors. "Reason", p. 435 To lose one's self in revery, one must be either very happy or very unhappy. Revery is the child of extreme. "Revery", p. 450 The monuments of mutability. "Ruins", p. 455 That which happens to the soil when it ceases to be cultivated by the social man happens to man himself when he foolishly forsakes society for solitude; the brambles grow up in his desert heart. "Solitude", p. 484 Speech is external thought, and thought internal speech. "Thought", p. 516 Vices are often habits rather than passions. "Vice", p. 541 The despotism of will in ideas is styled plan, project, character, obstinacy; its despotism in desires is called passion. "Will", p. 553 External links  Category:Academics from France Category:Conservatives Category:Monarchists Category:Poets from France Category:1753 births Category:1801 deaths Category:Translators from France