Ernest Renan
Ernest Renan
Joseph Ernest Renanwas a French expert of Middle East ancient languages and civilizations, philosopher, historian, and writer, devoted to his native province of Brittany. He is best known for his influential historical works on early Christianity, and his political theories, especially concerning nationalism and national identity. Renan is credited as being among the first scholars to advance the Khazar theory, which held that Ashkenazi Jews were descendants of Turkic peoples who had adopted Jewish religion and migrated to Western Europe...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth28 February 1823
CountryFrance
To conceive the good, in fact, is not sufficient; it must be made to succeed among men. To accomplish this less pure paths must be followed.
You may take great comfort from the fact that suffering inwardly for the sake of truth proves abundantly that one loves it and marks one out as being of the elect.
Jesus , in some respects, was an anarchist, for he had no idea of civil government . That government seems to him purely and simply an abuse. A great social revolution, in which rank will be overturned, in which all authority in this world will be humiliated, was his dream .
Work is the best thing to make us love life.
Relax yourself from one job by doing a different one.
The virtue of man is, in a word, the great proof of God.
Religion is not a popular error; it is a great instinctive truth, sensed by the people, expressed by the people.
Communism is in conflict with human nature.
None of the miracles with which ancient histories are filled, occurred under scientific conditions. Observation never once contradicted, teaches us that miracles occur only in periods and countries in which they are believed in and before persons disposed to believe in them.
To be able to think freely, a man must be certain that no consequence will follow whatever he writes.
The prayer of the agnostic: "O God, if there is a God, save my soul if I have a soul."
The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which Archimedes would have sacrificed his life.
The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half true.
Getting its history wrong is part of being a nation.