“I’ve come to the conclusion that today, more than ever, it is necessary to construct safe havens of thought, of art, and of wisdom in order to resist the rising flood of barbarism.”

Henri Ghéon (1875-1944)
Writer

“Like Shakespeare, Ghéon is also an actor, at least whenever he is needed. He’s not a very good actor – it’s true that he has an expressive way of acting which is sometimes larger than life, but he stutters and hesitates, he runs after his text, he thinks about an hundred other things while he is acting, because he is at the same time the director, the costume designer, the electrician, the machinist and the administrator. When he isn’t acting, he is part of the audience, and even part of a good audience, for he laughs, cries, applauds, all of it as if the play wasn’t his at all. The admirable simplicity of Ghéon! He seems modest, retiring; he declines honors – for example, a place on stage during a reunion or a congress, waving the suggestion away with a humble gesture. He isn’t handsome; he is bald, has large eyes and a clean-shaven face, ruddy skin – but his smile takes up his whole face, and his eyes gleam with goodness as much as with malice. Dear Ghéon! How I should like you to see him as I see him in my mind, even after so many years.”

Geneviève Duhamelet (1890-1980)
Novelist