Au-dessus de la mêlée Quotes

“Discussion is impossible with someone who claims not to seek the truth, but already to possess it.”
― Romain Rolland, Above The Battle

“Europe is like a besieged town. Fever is raging. Whoever will not rave like the rest is suspected. And in these hurried times when justice cannot wait to study evidence, every suspect is a traitor.”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“Above all race questions, which are for the most part a mask behind which pride crouches and the interests of the financial or aristocratic classes dissemble, there is a law of humanity, eternal and universal, of which we are all the servants and guardians; it is that of the right of a people to rule themselves. And he who violates shall be the enemy of all.”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“The true man of culture is not he who makes of himself and his ideal the center of the universe, but who looking around him sees, as in the sky the stream of the Milky Way, thousands of little flames which flow with his own; and who seeks neither to absorb them nor to impose upon them his own course, but to give himself the religious persuasion of their value and of the common source of the fire by which all alike are fed.”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“it must be admitted that on neither side have they brought honor to the cause of reason, which they have not been able to protect against the winds of violence and folly.”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“Give an intellectual any ideal and any evil passion and he will always succeed in harmonizing the twain.”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“Man cultivates the vices which are profitable to him, but feels the necessity of legitimizing them; being unwilling to sacrifice them, he must idealize them.”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“We cannot stop the war, but we can make it less bitter. There are medicines for the body. We need medicines for the soul, to dress the wounds of hatred and vengeance by which the world is being poisoned.”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“Of what use are such as cannot serve! Yet these are the most innocent victims of this war. They have not taken part in it, and nothing had prepared them for such calamities.”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“Let us be bold and proclaim the truth to the elders of these young men, to their moral guides, to their religious and secular leaders, to the Churches, the great thinkers, the leaders of socialism; these living riches, these treasures of heroism you held in your hands; for what are you squandering them? What ideal have you held up to the devotion of these youths so eager to sacrifice themselves? Their mutual slaughter!”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“O young men that shed your blood with so generous a joy for the starving earth! O heroism of the world! What a harvest for destruction to reap under this splendid summer sun! Young men of all nations, brought into conflict by a common ideal, making enemies of those who should be brothers; all of you, marching to your death, are dear to me.”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“The newspapers of both countries give publicity only to prejudiced stories unfavorable to the enemy. One would imagine that they devote themselves to collecting only the worst cases, in order to preserve the atmosphere of hatred; and those to which they give predominance are often doubtful and always exceptional.”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée

“One day History will pass judgment on each of the nations at war; she will weigh their measure of errors, lies, and heinous follies. Let us try and make ours light before her!”
― Romain Rolland, Au-dessus de la mêlée