“The arrogance of poets is only a defense; doubt gnaws the greatest among them; they need our testimony to escape despair.”

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Francois Mauriac 38
French author 1885–1970

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Context: A time is marked not so much by ideas that are argued about as by ideas that are taken for granted. The character of an era hangs upon what needs no defense. Power runs with ideas that only the crazy would draw into doubt. The "taken for granted" is the test of sanity; "what everyone knows" is the line between us and them.
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