Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains to be said.
Interpretation
Some concise statements encapsulate profound truths, leaving no room for further discussion.
This quote reflects the power of words and the impact of succinct expressions. Jean Rostand suggests that certain brief sentences possess a unique quality that conveys deep meaning, rendering them so complete that they eliminate the need for additional commentary. Such sentences can evoke strong feelings and encapsulate truths that resonate profoundly with people, highlighting the beauty and effectiveness of simplicity in communication.
In practice
During a speech on effective communication, one might quote this to emphasize the power of brevity.
If a given scientist had not made a given discovery, someone else would have done so a little later. Johann Mendel dies unknown after having discovered the laws of heredity: thirty-five years later, three men rediscover them. But the book that is not written will never be written. The premature death of a great scientist delays humanity; that of a great writer deprives it.
My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.
We spend our time envying people whom we wouldn't wish to be.
Stupidity, outrage, vanity, cruelty, iniquity, bad faith, falsehood - we fail to see the whole array when it is facing in the same direction as we.
When a scientist is ahead of his times, it is often through misunderstanding of current, rather than intuition of future truth. In science there is never any error so gross that it won't one day, from some perspective, appear prophetic.
A few great minds are enough to endow humanity with monstrous power, but a few great hearts are not enough to make us worthy of using it.
Knowing others is to be clever. Knowing yourself is to be enlightened. Overcoming others requires force. Overcoming yourself requires strength.
Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.
So, the tendency of our childish nature is to take small things too seriously and get easily offended, whereas when we are confronted with situations which have long-term consequences, we tend to take things less seriously
Both tolerance and respect are empty virtues until we actually understand whatever it is we are supposed to be tolerating or respecting.
To go out of your mind once a day is tremendously important, because by going out of your mind you come to your senses. And if you stay in your mind all of the time, you are over rational, in other words you are like a very rigid bridge which because it has no give; no craziness in it, is going to be blown down by the first hurricane.
It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
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