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All the historical books which contain no lies are extremely tedious.

— Anatole France The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (1881)

Les livres d'histoire qui ne mentent pas sont tout fort maussades.

Original text (French)

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Notes from Wikiquote

La Bûche [The Log] (December 24, 1849)

Variants

History books that contain no lies are extremely dull.

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Books

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The gods conform scrupulously to the sentiments of their worshippers: they have reasons for so doing.

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Innocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue.

Irony is the gaiety of reflection and the joy of wisdom.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Anatole France (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.