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The greatest book is not the one whose message engraves itself on the brain, as a telegraphic message engraves itself on the ticker-tape, but the one whose vital impact opens up other viewpoints, and from writer to reader spreads the fire that is fed by the various essences, until it becomes a vast conflagration leaping from forest to forest.

— Romain Rolland

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More quotes by Romain Rolland

I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in it even more so.

No one ever reads a book. He reads himself through books, either to discover or to control himself.

Journey Within (1947)

Theatre supposes lives that are poor and agitated, a people searching in dreams for a refuge from thought.

Le Théâtre du peuple (1903)

Never do I hesitate to look squarely at the unexpected face that every passing hour unveils to us, and to sacrifice the false images of it formed in advance, however dear they may be.

Journey Within (1947)

Every man who is truly a man must learn to be alone in the midst of all others, and if need be against all others.

All Romain Rolland quotes →

Attribution

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