Hippolyte Taine Quotes
Hippolyte Adolphe Taine was a French historian, literary critic, and philosopher and the principal exponent of positivism in nineteenth-century French humanistic scholarship. After early controversies over his rationalist philosophical views, he produced his celebrated History of English Literature, On Intelligence, and the six-volume Origins of Contemporary France. The quotes below are attributed to Hippolyte Taine, organized by topic.
Hippolyte Taine on Knowledge
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Attributed to Hippolyte Taine:
“The historian must approach human facts with the methods of natural science.”
Hippolyte Taine on Mind
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Attributed to Hippolyte Taine:
“What we call genius is the convergence of many ordinary forces.”
Hippolyte Taine on Politics
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Attributed to Hippolyte Taine:
“Race, milieu, and moment determine the form of every cultural product.”
Hippolyte Taine on Truth
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Attributed to Hippolyte Taine:
“Literature is the documentary expression of an age.”
Hippolyte Taine on Virtue
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Attributed to Hippolyte Taine:
“Vice and virtue are products like vitriol and sugar.”