The role of the scholar is to destroy chimeras, that of the statesman is to make use of them.

All the civilizations we know have been created and directed by small intellectual aristocracies, never by people in the mass. The power of crowds is only to destroy.

One of the most constant characteristics of beliefs is their intolerance. The stronger the belief, the greater its intolerance. Men dominated by a certitude cannot tolerate those who do not accept it.

The precise moment at which a great belief is doomed is easily recognisable; it is the moment when its value begins to be called in question.

The role of the scholar is to destroy chimeras, that of the statesman is to make use of them.

The beginning of a revolution is in reality the end of a belief.

Science has promised us truth...It has never promised us either peace or happiness.