The more I know, the more nearly is my faith that of the Breton peasant. Could I but know all I would have the faith of a Breton peasant woman.

As quoted in Letter to an Atheist (2007) by Michael Patrick Leahy, p. 61 | His descendents, Louis-Pasteur Vallery-Radot, and Maurice Vallery-Radot disputed the authenticity of such statements. According to Maurice Vallery-Radot, Pasteur (1994), p. 378, the attributed assertion first appeared in the Semaine religieuse .... du diocèse de Versailles (6 October 1895), p. 153, shortly after the death of Pasteur.

I have the faith of a Breton peasant and by the time I die I hope to have the faith of a Breton peasant's wife.