Jean-Henri Fabre Quotes

• History celebrates the battlefields whereon we meet our death, but scorns to speak of the plowed fields whereby we thrive. It knows the names of the king's bastards but cannot tell us the origin of wheat. This is the way of human folly.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Kings, Food, Names

  16 Copy quote

• Seek those who find your road agreeable, your personality and mind stimulating, your philosophy acceptable, and your experience helpful. Let those who do not, seek their own kind.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Philosophy, Personality, Mind

  14 Copy quote

• Let us dig our furrow in the fields of the commonplace.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Fields, Corny, Commonplace

  Jean-Henri Fabre, Alexander Teixeira De Mattos (2000). “The Life of the Fly”, p.175, The Minerva Group, Inc.

  9 Copy quote

• We have within us, from the start, that which will distinguish us from the vulgar herd.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Herds, Vulgar

  Jean-Henri Fabre (1998). “The Passionate Observer: Writings from the World of Nature”, Chronicle Books Llc

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• In many cases, ignorance is a good thing : the mind retains its freedom of investigation and does not stray along roads that lead nowhither, suggested by one's reading. I have experienced this once again. ... Yes, ignorance can have its advantages; the new is found far from the beaten track.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Reading, Ignorance, Track

  Jean-Henri Fabre (1911). “Souvenirs Entomologiques”, London : A. and C. Black

  12 Copy quote

• Let us turn elsewhere, to the wasps and bees, who unquestionably come first in the laying up of a heritage for their offspring.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Heritage, Firsts, Bees

  Jean-Henri Fabre (1998). “The Passionate Observer: Writings from the World of Nature”, Chronicle Books Llc

  15 Copy quote

• If there is one vegetable which is God-given, it is the haricot bean.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Vegetables, Given, Beans

  10 Copy quote

• History records the names of royal bastards, but cannot tell us the origin of wheat.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Names, Records, Wheat

  12 Copy quote

• The common people have no history: persecuted by the present, they cannot think of preserving the memory of the past.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Memories, Past, Thinking

  Jean-Henri Fabre, Alexander Teixeira De Mattos (2000). “The Life of the Fly”, p.117, The Minerva Group, Inc.

  11 Copy quote

• All failed lovers rewrite the script, as if one sexual detail or another might have tipped the balance of pain into destiny, either tragic or miraculous. History record the names of royal bastards, but cannot tell us the origin of wheat.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Pain, Destiny, Names

  7 Copy quote

• Without feeling abashed by my ignorance, I confess that I am absolutely unable to say. In the absence of an appearance of learning, my answer has at least one merit, that of perfect sincerity.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Ignorance, Perfect, Feelings

  Jean-Henri Fabre (1911). “Souvenirs Entomologiques”, London : A. and C. Black

  8 Copy quote

• Permanence of instinct must go with permanence of form...The history of the present must teach us the history of the past.

  Jean-Henri Fabre

  Past, Fossils, Instinct

  8 Copy quote

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