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Quotes by French Authors
"Suffering engenders passion; and while the prosperous blind themselves, or go to sleep, the hatred of the unfortunate classes kindles its torch at some sullen or ill-constituted mind, which is dreaming in a corner, and sets to work to examine society. The examination of hatred is a terrible thing.Suffering begets rage, and while the prosperous turn a blind eye, or nod off which is always the same thing as shutting your eyes, the hate of the unprosperous masses has hits torch lit by some malcontent or warped mind dreaming away in a corner, somewhere, and it begins to examine society. Examination by hate is a terrible thing."
"The appearance of the bones of quadrupeds, especially those of complete bodies in the strata, tells us either that the layer itself which carries them was in earlier times dry land or that dry land was at least formed in the immediate area."
"To know how to hide one's ability is great skill."
"For true love is inexhaustible; the more you give, the more you have. And if you go to draw at the true fountainhead, the more water you draw, the more abundant is its flow."
"Hope, deceiving as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route."
"When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing."
"It is easy to sit up and take notice, What is difficult is getting up and taking action."
"Of all the sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest."
"Nearly all our originality comes from the stamp that time impresses upon our sensibility."
"Direct observation of the luminous essence of nature is for me indispensable."
"Scandal is an importunate wasp, against which we must make no movement unless we are quite sure that we can kill it; otherwise it will return to the attack more furious than ever."
"If the only significant history of human thought were to be written, it would have to be the history of its successive regrets and its impotences."
"Justice is what is established; and thus all our established laws will necessarily be regarded as just without examination, since they are established."
"Ethics is the triumph of freedom over facticity."
"I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings."
"It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all."
"When I want to know what France thinks, I ask myself."
"There is so much sttuborn hope in a human heart."
"I think generally the Japanese players have more intensity in practice but generally I do the same things."
"A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses."
"You might lose your spontaneity and, instead of composing first-rate Gershwin, end up with second rate Ravel."
"Christianity taught men that love is worth more than intelligence."
"You must submit to supreme suffering in order to discover the completion of joy."
"Writings scatter to the winds blank checks in an insane charge. And were they not such flying leaves, there would be no purloined letters."
"Vadim was both my teacher and my husband. I placed myself entirely in his hands."
"Photography to me is catching a moment which is passing, and which is true."
"There are certain times when public opinion is the worst of all opinions."
"God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation."
"It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover."
"I don't know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace an interlude during war."
"Consequently, I won just about everything I set out to win, everything bar the World Cup, of course. But even now, I don't regret that, because I was part of a team which twice reached the semi-finals."
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