[2] Although essentially self-taught (he left school at the age of thirteen), Thibon was an avid reader – especially of poetry, in French, Provençal and Latin.

He was very impressed by the First World War, which led him to hate patriotism and democracy.

[3] The young Gustave Thibon travelled extensively, at first to London and Italy, and later to North Africa, where he served in the military, before returning to his native village at the age of 23.

Under the influence of writers such as Léon Bloy and Jacques Maritain, he converted to Catholicism.

During World War II Thibon hosted the philosopher Simone Weil at his farm; he published S. Weil's work La Pesanteur et la Grâce (Gravity and Grace) in 1947.