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Our principle is that we should regulate our present life just as if the future life did not exist, that it is never justifiable to refer to what is beyond in extenuation of any social condition or action. To appeal incessantly to the future life is to deaden the spirit of reform, to relax the zeal for the rational organization of humanity.

— Ernest Renan The Future of Science (1890)

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More quotes by Ernest Renan

In morals, truth is but little prized when it is a mere sentiment, and only attains its full value when realized in the world as fact.

Vie de Jésus (The Life of Jesus) (1863)

Communism is in conflict with human nature.

It has become a hackneyed truth by now to say that the world is governed by ideas.

The Future of Science (1890)

The greatest men of a nation are often those whom it puts to death.

Vie de Jésus (The Life of Jesus) (1863)

"Endeavour to be beautiful, and then do at every moment that with which your heart will inspire you;" that is morality in a nutshell.

The Future of Science (1890)

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Attribution

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