Julien Offray de La Mettrie, Man a Machine (1747)
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• Wikisource: Author:Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
“

A mere nothing, a tiny fibre, something that could never be found by the most delicate anatomy, would have made of Erasmus and Fontenelle two idiots, and Fontenelle himself speaks of this very fact in one of his best dialogues.

— Julien Offray de La Mettrie on Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "A mere nothing, a tiny fibre, something that could never be found by the most delicate anatomy, would have made of Erasmus and Fontenelle two idiots, and Fontenelle himself speaks of this very fact in one of his best dialogues." in the context of "Julien Offray de La Mettrie, Man a Machine (1747)
• Wikicommons: -inline
• Wikisource: Author:Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle" (External links) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Julien Offray de La Mettrie

About Julien Offray de La Mettrie

Julien Offray de La Mettrie (November 23, 1709 – November 11, 1751) was a French physician and philosopher, and one of the earliest of the French materialists of the Enlightenment. He is best known for his work L'homme machine (Man a Machine).