The Vital Spirit. L'élan Vital

An Absolute Can Only Be Given In An Intuition, While All The Rest Has To Do With Analysis. We Call Intuition Here The Sympathy By Which One Is Transported Into The Interior Of An Object In Order To Coincide With What There Is Unique Andconsequently Inexpressible In It. Analysis, On The Contrary, Is The Operation Which Reduces The Object To Elements Already Known.

I Cannot Escape The Objection That There Is No State Of Mind, However Simple, That Does Not Change Every Moment

In Laughter We Always Find An Unavowed Intention To Humiliate And Consequently To Correct Our Neighbour.

The Emotion Felt By A Man In The Presence Of Nature Certainly Counts For Something In The Origin Of Religions.

I Believe That The Time Given To Refutation In Philosophy Is Usually Time Lost. Of The Many Attacks Directed By Many Thinkers Against Each Other, What Now Remains? Nothing, Or Assuredly Very Little. That Which Counts And Endures Is The Modicum Of Positive Truth Which Each Contributes. The True Statement Is, Of Itself, Able To Displace The Erroneous Idea, And Becomes, Without Our Having Taken The Trouble Of Refuting Anyone, The Best Of Refutations.