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

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.

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

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

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

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

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