Auguste Comte Quotes

But now, I, August Comte, have discovered the truth. Therefore, there is no longer any need for freedom of thought or freedom of the press. I want to rule and to organize the whole country. ~ Auguste Comte

Nothing is destroyed until it is replaced. ~ Auguste Comte

Induction for deduction, with a view to construction. ~ Auguste Comte

Language forms a kind of wealth, which all can make use of at once without causing any diminution of the store, and which thus admits a complete community of enjoyment; for all, freely participating in the general treasure, unconsciously aid in its preservation. ~ Auguste Comte

A hundred years ago, Auguste Comte, ... a great philosopher, said that humans will never be able to visit the stars, that we will never know what stars are made out of, that that's the one thing that science will never ever understand, because they're so far away. And then, just a few years later, scientists took starlight, ran it through a prism, looked at the rainbow coming from the starlight, and said: "Hydrogen!" Just a few years after this very rational, very reasonable, very scientific prediction was made, that we'll never know what stars are made of. ~ Michio Kaku

To reorganize society without God or King, by the systematic culture of Humanity. ~ Auguste Comte

In revolutionary times, those who accord themselves, with an extraordinary arrogance, the facile credit for having inflamed anarchy in their contemporaries fail to recognize that what appears to be a sad triumph is in fact due to a spontaneous disposition, determined by the social situation as a whole. - AUGUSTE COMTE, ~ Michel Houellebecq

Men are not allowed to think freely about chemistry and biology: why should they be allowed to think freely about political philosophy? ~ Auguste Comte

Every attempt to employ mathematical methods in the study of chemical questions must be considered profoundly irrational and contrary to the spirit of chemistry ... if mathematical analysis should ever hold a prominent place in chemistry
an aberration which is happily almost impossible
it would occasion a rapid and widespread degeneration of that science. ~ Auguste Comte

Foreknowledge is power. ~ Auguste Comte

To understand a science, it is necessary to know its history. ~ Auguste Comte

Auguste Comte, in particular, whose social system, as unfolded in his Systeme de Politique Positive, aims at establishing (though by moral more than by legal appliances) a despotism of society over the individual, surpassing anything contemplated in the political ideal of the most rigid disciplinarian among the ancient philosophers. ~ John Stuart Mill

His lover appeared to have boarded the train at Auguste Comte and passed by the station of theology, where the password was 'Yes, Mother.' This train was now traversing the realm of metaphysics, where the password was 'Certainly not, Mother.' In the distance, visible through a telescope, was the mountain of reality on which was inscribed its password, 'Open your eyes and be courageous. ~ Naguib Mahfouz

Religion is an illusion of childhood, outgrown under proper education. ~ Auguste Comte

Positivism is a theory of knowledge according to which the only kind of sound knowledge available to human kind is that if science grounded in observation. ~ Auguste Comte

Woman is the most moral element in all humanity. ~ Auguste Comte

In mathematics we find the primitive source of rationality; and to mathematics must the biologists resort for means to carry out their researches. ~ Auguste Comte

Ideas govern the world, or throw it into chaos. ~ Auguste Comte

Each department of knowledge passes through three stages. The theoretic stage; the theological stage and the metaphysical or abstract stage. ~ Auguste Comte

Mathematical Analysis is ... the true rational basis of the whole system of our positive knowledge. ~ Auguste Comte

The mathematical thermology created by Fourier may tempt us to hope that, as he has estimated the temperature of the space in which we move, me may in time ascertain the mean temperature of the heavenly bodies: but I regard this order of facts as for ever excluded from our recognition. We can never learn their internal constitution, nor, in regard to some of them, how heat is absorbed by their atmosphere. We may therefore define Astronomy as the science by which we discover the laws of the geometrical and mechanical phenomena presented by the heavenly bodies. ~ Auguste Comte

Psychology, in fact, repre-
sents the juncture of two opposite directions of are still insufficient. In the science of human be- scientific thought that are dialectically comple-
mentary. It follows that the system of sciences
cannot be arranged in a linear order, as many
people beginning with Auguste Comte have at-
tempted to arrange them. ~ Jean Piaget

Indeed, every true science has for its object the determination of certain phenomena by means of others, in accordance with the relations which exist between them. ~ Auguste Comte

The dead govern the living. ~ Auguste Comte

Everything is relative; and only that is absolute. ~ Auguste Comte

Demography is destiny. ~ Auguste Comte

A stars rich in europium; of distant galaxies analyzed through the collective light of a hundred billion constituent stars. Astronomical spectroscopy is an almost magical technique. It amazes me still. Auguste Comte picked a particularly unfortunate example. ~ Carl Sagan

The sacred formula of positivism: love as a principle, the order as a foundation, and progress as a goal. ~ Auguste Comte

The only real life is the collective life of the race; individual life has no existence except as an abstraction. ~ Auguste Comte

The true mission of the violin is to imitate the accents of the human voice, a noble mission that has earned for the violin the glory of being called the king of instruments ~ Charles-Auguste De Beriot

The artist who uses the least of what is called imagination will be the greatest. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

D'Artagnan looked his friend earnestly in the face. "You know one
thing," continued the comte, leaning upon the arm of the captain; "you
know that in the course of my life I have been afraid of but few things.
Well! I have an incessant gnawing, insurmountable fear that an hour will
come in which I shall hold the dead body of that boy in my arms. ~ Alexandre Dumas

To express himself well, the artist should be hidden ... The trouble is that if an artist knows he has genius, he's done for. The only salvation is to work like a labourer, and not have delusions of grandeur. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The delicate droop of the petals standing out in relief, is like the eyelid of a child. ~ Auguste Rodin

The dazzling splendour revealed to the artist by the model that divests herself of her clothes has the effect of the sun piercing the clouds. Venus, Eve, these are feeble terms to express the beauty
of women. ~ Auguste Rodin

Paint with joy - with the same joy that you would make love to a woman. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

A sous-chef with dreams of her own restaurant empire may have mastered the art of classical French sauce making, but not yet have developed the signature cooking style she imagines as the cornerstone of her own chain of restaurants. She gauges her progress not only by whether she is moving toward her aspirations, but also by her improving skills. Our chef may not yet have the stature of Chef Auguste Escoffier or Emeril Lagasse, but she can remember a time when she could not name the five French mother sauces, let alone execute them. She's made progress. Appreciating the skills she has developed is a marker along the path toward her culinary aspirations. The sense of accomplishment that accompanies improved skills is one of the rewards we reap when we dedicate ourselves to mastery. ~ Marian Deegan

There is nothing 'Natural' that is ugly, for the inner 'Truth' of 'Nature' is always 'Beautiful'. ~ Rodin Auguste 1840-1917 Auguste

The workman mindful of success, therefore, will naturally direct his attention to the faultless preparation of his stock, and in order to achieve this result, he will find it necessary not merely to make use of the freshest and finest goods, but also to exercise the most scrupulous care in their preparation, for, in cooking, care is half the battle. ~ Auguste Escoffier

Stuffing one muffin in his mouth and a second in his pocket, Auguste slipped into a side passage and away. He'd just take a wander 'round the city and hope some assassin made a merciful move. ~ Rachel Heffington

I shall set down in a few lines how uptight Maldoror was during his early years, when he lived happy. There: done. He later perceived he was born wicked: strange mischance! For a great many years he concealed his character as best he could; but in the end, because this effort was not natural to him, each day the blood would rush to his head until, unable any longer to bear such a life, he hurled himself resolutely into a career of evil … sweet atmosphere! Who could guess whenever he hugged a rosycheeked young child, that he was longing to hack off those cheeks with a razor and would have done so often had not the idea of Justice and her long cortège of punishments restrained him on every occasion. ~ Comte De Lautreamont

I set my genius to portray the pleasures of cruelty! These are no fickle, artificial delights, they began with man and with him they will die. ~ Comte De Lautreamont

I would have to talk for a year to repeat a single on of my works with words. ~ Auguste Rodin

The chemists who uphold dualism are far from being agreed among themselves; nevertheless, all of them in maintaining their opinion, rely upon the phenomena of chemical reactions. For a long time the uncertainty of this method has been pointed out: it has been shown repeatedly, that the atoms put into movement during a reaction take at that time a new arrangement, and that it is impossible to deduce the old arrangement from the new one. It is as if, in the middle of a game of chess, after the disarrangement of all the pieces, one of the players should wish, from the inspection of the new place occupied by each piece, to determine that which it originally occupied. ~ Auguste Laurent

And if out of a million visitors there is even one to whom art means something, that is enough to justify museums. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

When I've painted a woman's bottom so that I want to touch it, then [the painting] is finished. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

For the little that one has reflected on the origin of our knowledge, it is easy to perceive that we can acquire it only by means of comparison. That which is absolutely incomparable is wholly incomprehensible. God is the only example that we could give here. He cannot be comprehended, because he cannot be compared. But all which is susceptible of comparison, everything that we can perceive by different aspects, all that we can consider relatively, can always be judged according to our knowledge. ~ Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte De Buffon

Necessary, since every moment in our lives is marked by death, like a shadow from another realm, it appear to us like a vanishing point for everything. How can one meditate on live without meditating too on its brevity, its precariousness, its fragility? ~ Andre Comte Sponville

He reached up for his elegant neck cloth and began to unfasten it, and she watched his long, pale, bejeweled fingers in something of a daze.
He pulled the cloth free, his shirt coming open, and she averted her gaze from the disturbing sight of his bare chest. She heard his laugh, and then his hands were on her once more, catching her shoulders and turning her around. "Don't worry, my pet. You won't be seeing anything that might shock you." And he pulled the neck cloth over her eyes, effectively blinding her.
She wanted to fight back, to struggle, but that would give him an excuse to touch her further, and the less she felt the brush of his cool fingers the better. "That's right," he said, his voice soft and approving. "Now give me your arm and we'll give you a taste of damnation."
"Do you really find blasphemy that entertaining?" she said, trying not to start when he took her hand and placed it on his arm.
"Always."
She'd never put her hand on any arm that wasn't covered by layers of clothing, including a coat. The devil who oversaw these revels, be he Monsieur le Comte or something else, wore only a thin shirt made of the finest lawn. In her sudden world of darkness she was acutely aware of the feel of his arm beneath her fingers. The sinew and bone. The unexpected warmth of his skin, when his hands and his heart were so cold. ~ Anne Stuart

True artists are almost the only men who do their work for pleasure. ~ Auguste Rodin

I was an impostor, the worthy associate of a brigand, &c., &c., and all this for an atom of chlorine put in the place of an atom of hydrogen, for the simple correction of a chemical formula! ~ Auguste Laurent

There are quite enough unpleasant things in life without the need to manufacture more. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

It is not enough for a painter to be a clever craftsman; he must love to 'caress' his canvas, too. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

I would not exchange my leisure hours for all the wealth in the world. -Comte De Mirabeau ~ Michelle Moran

The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation. ~ Auguste Rodin

If the artist succeeds in producing the impression of a movement which takes several moments for accomplishment, his work is certainly much less conventional than the scientific image, where time is abruptly suspended. ~ Auguste Rodin

{On to contributions to evolutionary biology of 18th century French scientist, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon}

He was not an evolutionary biologist, yet he was the father of evolutionism. He was the first person to discuss a large number of evolutionary problems, problems that before Buffon had not been raised by anybody.... he brought them to the attention of the scientific world.

Except for Aristotle and Darwin, no other student of organisms [whole animals and plants] has had as far-reaching an influence.

He brought the idea of evolution into the realm of science. He developed a concept of the "unity of type", a precursor of comparative anatomy. More than anyone else, he was responsible for the acceptance of a long-time scale for the history of the earth. He was one of the first to imply that you get inheritance from your parents, in a description based on similarities between elephants and mammoths. And yet, he hindered evolution by his frequent endorsement of the immutability of species. He provided a criterion of species, fertility among members of a species, that was thought impregnable. ~ Ernst W. Mayr

None, but people of strong passion are capable of rising to greatness. ~ Honore Gabriel Riqueti, Comte De Mirabeau

If I exist, I am not another ~ Comte De Lautreamont

Nature is the system of laws established by the Creator for the existence of things and for the succession of creatures. Nature is not a thing, because this thing would be everything. Nature is not a creature, because this creature would be God. But one can consider it as an immense vital power, which encompasses all, which animates all, and which, subordinated to the power of the first Being, has begun to act only by his order, and still acts only by his concourse or consent ... Time, space and matter are its means, the universe its object, motion and life its goal. ~ Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte De Buffon

Fine and delicate taste is the fruit of education and experience. ~ Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

By consequence I hold that no one ever did, or can do, anything for "society." ... Comte invented the term altruism as an antonym for egoism , and it found its way at once into everyone's mouth, although it is utterly devoid of meaning, since it points to nothing that ever existed in mankind; This hybrid or rather this degenerate form of hedonism served powerfully to invest collectivism 's principles with a specious moral sanction, and collectivists naturally made the most of it. ~ Albert J. Nock

I've been 40 years discovering that the queen of all colors was black. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Throughout my life I have seen, without one exception, narrow-shouldered men performing innumerable idiotic acts, brustalising their fellows, and corrupted souls by every means. They call the motive for their actions: fame. Seeing these exhibitions I've longed to laugh, with the rest, but that strange imitation was impossible. Taking a penknife with a sharp-edged blade, I slit the flesh at the points joining the lips. For an instant I believed my aim was achieved. I saw in a mirror the mouth ruined at my own will! An error! Besides, the blood gushing freely from the two wounds prevented my distinguishing whether this really was the grin of others. But after some moments of comparison I saw quite clearly that my smile did not resemble that of humans: the fact is, I was not laughing. ~ Comte De Lautreamont

You don't talk about paintings, you look at them. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

I know very well that one must fight, for one is often in contradiction to the spirit of the age. ~ Auguste Rodin

So long as people don't know how to eat they will not have good cooks. ~ Auguste Escoffier

Patience is also a form of action. ~ Auguste Rodin

On the whole, the modern palette is the same as the one used by the artists of Pompeii ... I mean it has not been enriched. The ancients used earths, ochres, and ivory-black - you can do anything with that palette. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

I'm still afflicted with the malady of research. I don't like what I do, and I paint it out, and paint it out again. I hope this mania will come to an end ... I'm like a child at school. The white page must always be evenly written and slap! bang! and there's a blot! I'm still blotting and I'm forty years old. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Residing in Paris during the spring and part of the summer of 18 - , I there became acquainted with a Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin. This ~ Edgar Allan Poe

We must like what we have when we don't have what we like. ~ Roger De Rabutin, Comte De Bussy