Paul Valéry — a remark

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“When we reach the goal, we believe that the path was the right one.”

Original: Quand nous parvenons au but, nous croyons que le chemin a été le bon. — A sceptical observation on hindsight and the human tendency to justify the route by its outcome. · Mauvaises pensées et autres (French)

About Paul Valéry

Paul Valéry

30 October 1871–20 July 1945

In the autumn of 1871, as France was still reeling from the trauma of the Franco-Prussian War and the violent suppression of the Paris Commune, a child was born in the Mediterranean port town of Sète who would become one of the twentieth century's most formidable literary intellects. Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules…

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