Jean Rostand
Jean Rostand
Jean Rostandwas a French biologist and philosopher...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth30 October 1894
CountryFrance
lying book reality
I prefer the honest jargon of reality to the outright lies of books.
book men discovery
If a given scientist had not made a given discovery, someone else would have done so a little later. Johann Mendel dies unknown after having discovered the laws of heredity: thirty-five years later, three men rediscover them. But the book that is not written will never be written. The premature death of a great scientist delays humanity; that of a great writer deprives it.
book forgettable prerequisites
Prerequisite for rereadability in books: that they be forgettable.
book writing past
The books one has written in the past have two surprises in store: one couldn't write them again, and wouldn't want to.
god
One kills a man, one is an assassin; one kills millions, one is a conqueror; one kills everybody, one is a god
ask conflict men merely pure whose
We are not nanve enough to ask for pure men; we ask merely for men whose impurity does not conflict with the obligations of their job.
men killing-a-man murderer
Kill one man, and you are murderer
truth errors attention
It is sometimes well for a blatant error to draw attention to overmodest truths.
truth fighting mind
Truth is always served by great minds, even if they fight it.
fame renown contempt
Renown? I've already got more of it than those I respect, and will never have as much as those for whom I feel contempt..
truth race littles
There are big and little truths, but all belong to the same race.
men thinking certain
To say of men that they are bad is to say they are worse than we think we are, or worse than the ideal man whose image we have built up on the basis of a certain few.
teacher hard-work science
It is not easy to imagine how little interested a scientist usually is in the work of any other, with the possible exception of the teacher who backs him or the student who honors him.
frogs facts grenouille
Le biologiste passe, la grenouille reste. The biologist passes, the frog remains.