„Die Selbstbeherrschung bildet einen Teil des Daseins; noch mehr, sie hält es zusammen und sichert es.“
— Alain
Die Pflicht, glücklich zu sein
Zitate von Alain
6 0
Alain
Geburtstag: 3. März 1868
Todesdatum: 2. Juni 1951
Émile-Auguste Chartier war ein französischer Denker und Schriftsteller, der zwischen den beiden Weltkriegen hohes Ansehen als „moralische Stimme“ Frankreichs genoss. Mit seiner Kolumnenform Propos prägte er eine neue literarische Gattung. In der Regel ist er unter seinem Pseudonym Alain bekannt, das er zunächst wegen der Volkstümlichkeit dieses Vornamens, aber auch als Reverenz an seinen normannischen Landsmann Alain Chartier wählte. Wikipedia
Zitate Alain
„Um die Menschen zum Beichtstuhl zu bringen und sie wieder ruhig zu machen, dazu hat man Gott, den Teufel und die Hölle erfinden müssen.“
— Alain
Vorschläge und Meinungen zum Leben
„Nichts ist gefährlicher als eine Idee, wenn man nur eine hat.“
— Alain
Zitiert von Franz-Olivier Giesbert im SPIEGEL 24. Mai 1995 http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-9181306.html
Original franz.: "Rien n'est plus dangereux qu'une idée quand on n'a qu'une idée." - « 5 juillet 1930 », dans Propos, II, Alain, éd. Gallimard, coll. La Pléiade, 1970, p. 827; Prospos sur la religion, Rieder, Paris 1938 p. 224 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=owkaAAAAMAAJ&q=dangereux & Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1951, p. 224 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=PN9LAAAAIAAJ&q=dangereux
„Der Zweifel ist dem Wissen nicht unterlegen, sondern überlegen. Der Fortschritt ist der Sohn des Zweifels. Der Verstand, der nicht mehr zweifelt, unterliegt dem Verstand.“
— Alain
Zitiert von Claus-Michael Stock in Kärntner Ärzte-Zeitung April 2011 (pdf) http://www.aekktn.at/documents/10745/833974/2011-04-Gesamtausgabe.pdf S. 11
Original franz.: "Le doute n'est pas au-dessous du savoir, mais au-dessus." - « 20 juin 1924 », Propos I, Gallimard 1956 p. 615 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=8FooAQAAIAAJ&q=%22mais+au-dessus%22
"Tout progrès est fils du doute." - Les saisons de l'esprit, Galliamard 1937 p. 138 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=yRJBAQAAIAAJ&q=progrès
"Manière de dire que l'esprit qui ne sait plus douter descend au-dessous de l'esprit." - Propos sur des philosophes (1961) p. 55 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=BAlIAAAAMAAJ&q=%22descend+au-dessous%22
„Man himself is an enigma in motion“
— Alain
Introduction
The Gods (1934)
Kontext: Man himself is an enigma in motion; his questions never stay asked; whereas the mold, the footprint, and by natural extension, the statue itself, like the vaults, the arches, the temples with which man records his own passing, remain immobile and fix a moment of man’s life, upon which one might endlessly meditate.
„Every boat is copied from another boat…“
— Alain
Propos d’un Normand (1908); as quoted in "Natural selection and cultural rates of change" by D. S. Rogers and P. R. Ehrlich (2008) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105:3416–3420
Kontext: Every boat is copied from another boat... Let’s reason as follows in the manner of Darwin. It is clear that a very badly made boat will end up at the bottom after one or two voyages, and thus never be copied... One could then say, with complete rigor, that it is the sea herself who fashions the boats, choosing those which function and destroying the others.
„One must preach life, not death; spread hope, not fear and cultivate joy, man's most valuable treasure. That is the secret of the greatest of the wise, and it wil be the light of tomorrow.“
— Alain
On Pity
Alain On Happiness (1928)
Kontext: One must preach life, not death; spread hope, not fear and cultivate joy, man's most valuable treasure. That is the secret of the greatest of the wise, and it wil be the light of tomorrow. Passions are sad. Hatred is sad. Joy destroys passions and hatred. Let us begin by telling ourselves that sadness is never noble, beautiful or useful.
„Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you have only one idea.“
— Alain
Propos sur le Religion no. 74 (1938), under the pen name Alain.
Alternate translation: “Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when it's the only one we have.” IZQuotes https://izquotes.com/quote/%C3%A9mile-chartier/nothing-is-more-dangerous-than-an-idea-when-you-have-only-one-idea-390165 (retrieved 10/30/18).
„May the Gods, if they did not die of boredom, never give you one of those flat kingdoms to govern; may lead you through mountain paths; may they give you for a companion a good Andalusian mule with eyes like wells, a brow like an anvil, and who stops dead in his tracks because he sees the shadow his ears make on the road in front of him.“
— Alain
The King is Bored
Alain On Happiness (1928)
„Happiness is a reward that comes to those that have not looked for it.“
— Alain
Victories
Alain On Happiness (1928)
„Politeness is for people toward whom we feel indifferent, and moods, both good and bad, are for those we love.“
— Alain
Domestic Tranquility
Alain On Happiness (1928)
„We are advised and led along by second-rate moralists who only know how to work themselves into a delirium and pass their illness onto others.“
— Alain
The Eloquence of Our Passions
Alain On Happiness (1928)
„Work is the best and worst of all things; the best of it is voluntary, the worst of it is servile.“
— Alain
Happy Farmers
Alain On Happiness (1928)
„Humanity will have to extricate itself from the bags created by false moralists, according to whom we taste happiness and then pass judgment on it, as if it were a piece of fruit. But I maintain that even for a piece of fruit we can do something to help it taste good. This is even truer of marriage and every other human relationship; these things are not meant to be tasted or passively accepted; they must be made. A relationship is not like a bit of shade where one is comfortable or uncomfortable depending on the weather and the way the wind is blowing. On the contrary, it is a place of miracles, where the magician makes the rain and the good weather.“
— Alain
On Private Life
Alain On Happiness (1928)
„Everybody continually tries to get away with as much as he can; and society is a marvelous machine which allows decent people to be cruel without realizing it.“
— Alain
Attitudes Toward Neighbors
Alain On Happiness (1928)
„Our errors perish before we do. Let's not mummify them and keep them around.“
— Alain
Our Future
Alain On Happiness (1928)
