I wish to reproduce things as they are or as they would be even if I myself did not exist. Hippolyte Taine More Quotes by Hippolyte Taine More Quotes From Hippolyte Taine I've met many thinkers and many cats, but the wisdom of cats is infinitely superior. Hippolyte Taine catwittyfunny The production of a work of art is determined by the material and intellectual climate in which a man lives and dies. Hippolyte Taine intellectualmenart Kindly politeness is the slow fruit of advanced reflection; it is a sort of humanity and kindliness applied to small acts and every day discourse: it bids man soften towards others, and forget himself for the sake of others: it constrains genuine nature, which is selfish and gross. Hippolyte Taine selfishreflectionmen We study ourselves three weeks, we love each other three months, we squabble three years, we tolerate each other thirty years, and then the children start all over again. Hippolyte Taine threechildrenyears Four varieties in society: lovers, the ambitious, observers, and fools. The fools are the happiest. Hippolyte Taine ambitiousfoolfour Amid this vast and overwhelming space and in these boundless solar archipelagoes, how small is our own sphere, and the earth, what a grain of sand! Hippolyte Taine spheresspaceearth His tongue is by turns a sponge, a brush, a comb. He cleans himself, he smooths himself, he knows what is proper. Hippolyte Taine smoothtonguecat History is nothing but a problem of mechanics applied to psychology. Hippolyte Taine psychologyproblemhistory Man may be considered as a superior species of animal that produces philosophies and poems in about the same way a silkworm produces their cocoons and bees their hives. Hippolyte Taine animalmenphilosophy There are four types of men in the world: lovers, opportunists, lookers-on, and imbeciles. The happiest are the imbeciles. Hippolyte Taine stupiditymenworld The search for causes must come after the collection of facts. Hippolyte Taine causeshistoryfacts To have a true idea of man or of life, one must have stood himself on the brink of suicide, or on the door-sill of insanity, at least once. Hippolyte Taine suicidedoorsmen Change a virtue in its circumstances find it becomes a vice; change a vice in its circumstances, and it becomes a virtue. Regard the same quality from two sides; on one it is a fault, on the other a merit. The essential of a man is found concealed far below these moral badges. Hippolyte Taine two-sidesqualitymen A fixed idea is like the iron rod which sculptors put in their statues. It impales and sustains. Hippolyte Taine fixedironideas There are as many kinds of modesty as there are races. To the English woman it is a duty; to the French woman a propriety. Hippolyte Taine french-womanmodestyrace The more I study the things of the mind the more mathematical I find them. In them as in mathematics it is a question of quantities; they must be treated with precision. I have never had more satisfaction than in proving this in the realms of art, politics and history. Hippolyte Taine sciencehistoryart In the stormy current of life characters are weights or floats which at one time make us glide along the bottom, and at another maintain us on the surface. Hippolyte Taine weightinspirationalcharacter For thirty centuries, from her sacred seat the cat looked down, and crouching at her feet, beheld the race of conquering Pharaohs kneel. Hippolyte Taine catracefeet I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior. Hippolyte Taine superiorcatswisdompet
