André Malraux quotes
1901 – 1976 · 20th century · novelist, essayist, art theorist and statesman
About André Malraux
Born 1901 in Paris, Malraux combined novels and art theory with public service. Active in the Resistance and later as Minister of Cultural Affairs, he wrote on modernity's spiritual dilemmas late in life. A memorable formula is popularly linked to him, but scholars say the exact attribution is disputed.
Works: Man's Fate; The Hope; The Royal Way
Quotes
“The twenty-first century will be spiritual or it will not be.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- Scholars say the idea matches Malraux’s late reflections on a future spiritual issue, but the exact wording is not securely documented.
- What remains uncertain
- The precise aphorism is disputed and often traced to later paraphrase; Malraux’s recorded remarks use more cautious formulations rather than that exact sentence.
The line—memorable and unsettling—frames a core worry of modernity: technical progress without renewed sources of meaning risks civilizational drift. Malraux was diagnosing a looming spiritual question, a possible transformation of how societies reconnect with the sacred.