author
Ernest Dimnet
1866–1954
A French priest and man of letters, he became widely known for clear, thoughtful books on reading, thinking, and everyday intellectual life. His best-known work, The Art of Thinking, found a large audience in the English-speaking world during the 1930s.
1 Audiobook
Figures de moines
by Ernest Dimnet
About the author
Born in Trélon, France, in 1866, Ernest Dimnet was a Catholic priest, writer, and lecturer who built a reputation as an elegant, accessible guide to ideas. He taught English and literature at the Collège Stanislas in Paris, and his early work included literary studies such as a book on the Brontë sisters.
After the First World War, he settled in the United States and reached a much broader readership. His most famous book, The Art of Thinking (published in 1928), became especially popular in the 1930s, appealing to readers who wanted practical, humane advice on how to read better, reflect more clearly, and live more deliberately.
Dimnet died in 1954. He is remembered less as a specialist scholar than as a warm, cultivated public writer—someone who tried to make serious thought feel welcoming and useful in ordinary life.