“The Humanities teach authority, hierarchy and order in the field of ideas. In doing so they make the restoration of the mind a prelude to the restoration of the city.”

Léon Daudet (1867-1942)
Writer and journalist

“It is incontestable that Léon Daudet was the most powerful personality in the Chamber (National Block). There are two reasons that might be given for this surprising influence, and those are his exceptional talent, and his constant presence. This is because he was enormously interested in the Palais-Bourbon – not that he found every debate interesting, or that he was curious about many things. What he was passionate about was the fauna that the hemicycle of the Chamber afforded to his sharp regard and his genius for written caricature. No colleague was unworthy of him, whether big or little, retiring or remarkable. Leaning heavily against the bench in front of him he took them all in with an amused eye, his right hand drumming softly on the lectern. Mercilessly, he recorded the ridiculousness of some, the vanity of others, and in a single word which was cruelly exact, he defined them under his breath for the benefit and amusement of his closest neighbors. Once the label was given to the portrait, it was impossible to find a better one. The excellent little Mr. Louis Dubois, who conscientiously stood at the tribune for hours speaking of war reparations and calculating to the penny what Germany owed us, why yes! of course, he was well described as a praying mantis… Over there that scarab beetle advancing heavily with his wings ready to open is Marcel Habert… What fair-booth could have furnished such beautiful targets for so talented a sharpshooter? And he amused himself to his heart’s content in his daily articles as well. (…) The chamber was surprised time and time again by the weighty tone of his interventions, and was even under his charm when, side by side with Léon Bérard and Bracke, this writer – by birth and heritage, and nourished in classical culture – defended Latin and Greek against Edouard Herriot, the champion of utilitarian education. But woe to him who interrupted in the middle of a calm and peaceful pronunciation, for then Daudet would break out in a thunder and then you can’t even imagine what volume an irritated Léon Daudet could muster. Moreover, always jovial and good, without any haughtiness, even if he remained polite in his familiarity, he was counted as a friend by many, even among his political adversaries (with the exception, of course, of his favorite targets).”

Xavier Vallat (1891-1972)
Lawyer