Quotes by French Authors | Beyond Motive 51/164

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Quotes by French Authors

"It is my feeling that Time ripens all things; with Time all things are revealed; Time is the father of truth."

"It is my feeling that Time ripens all things; with Time all things are revealed; Time is the father of truth."

Francois Rabelais, French Clergyman

Time, Father, Truth, Feeling

46

"The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes."

"The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes."

Andre Gide, French Novelist

Creativity, Madness, Reason

46

"We can know nothing till after this grave debate. The soul must withdraw, for this is not its hour. Now the knife must divide the flesh, and lay the ravage bare, and do its work completely."

"We can know nothing till after this grave debate. The soul must withdraw, for this is not its hour. Now the knife must divide the flesh, and lay the ravage bare, and do its work completely."

Georges Duhamel, French Novelist

Work, Soul, Debate, Grave

46

"I hesitate to deposit money in a bank. I am afraid I shall never dare to take it out again. When you go to confession and entrust your sins to the safe-keeping of the priest, do you ever come back for them?"

"I hesitate to deposit money in a bank. I am afraid I shall never dare to take it out again. When you go to confession and entrust your sins to the safe-keeping of the priest, do you ever come back for them?"

Jean Baudrillard, French Sociologist

Money, Confession

46

"The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois."

"The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois."

Gustave Flaubert, French Novelist

Dream, Democracy, Stupidity

46

"The severity of the laws prevents their execution."

"The severity of the laws prevents their execution."

Charles de Montesquieu, French Philosopher

Law, Execution, Laws

46

"It is something actresses need to go through and I think they look forward to being naked in a movie. I don't know why, but it is something you need to exhaust from yourself."

"It is something actresses need to go through and I think they look forward to being naked in a movie. I don't know why, but it is something you need to exhaust from yourself."

Sophie Marceau, French Actress

46

"My films are the expression of momentary desires. I follow my instincts, but in a disciplined way."

"My films are the expression of momentary desires. I follow my instincts, but in a disciplined way."

Roman Polanski, French Director

46

"As a musician I tell you that if you were to suppress adultery, fanaticism, crime, evil, the supernatural, there would no longer be the means for writing one note."

"As a musician I tell you that if you were to suppress adultery, fanaticism, crime, evil, the supernatural, there would no longer be the means for writing one note."

Georges Bizet, French Composer

Adultery, Crime, Evil, Fanaticism

46

"Politics in a literary work, is like a gun shot in the middle of a concert, something vulgar, and however, something which is impossible to ignore."

"Politics in a literary work, is like a gun shot in the middle of a concert, something vulgar, and however, something which is impossible to ignore."

Stendhal, French Writer

Politics, Work, Literary

46

"No matter what you do, your person comes through. You can't completely change yourself on the screen. I had in mind someone colder and more in control, but I couldn't do it. This human note just crept in and maybe it's better."

"No matter what you do, your person comes through. You can't completely change yourself on the screen. I had in mind someone colder and more in control, but I couldn't do it. This human note just crept in and maybe it's better."

Leslie Caron, French Actress

Change, Control, Mind

46

"The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals."

"The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals."

Madame de Stael, French Writer

46

"There is always a heavy demand for fresh mediocrity. In every generation the least cultivated taste has the largest appetite."

"There is always a heavy demand for fresh mediocrity. In every generation the least cultivated taste has the largest appetite."

Paul Gauguin, French Artist

Quality, Appetite, Mediocrity, Taste

46

"Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion. Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art."

"Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion. Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art."

Remy de Gourmont, French Novelist

Love, Art, Emotion, Man

46

"To change, that is the most difficult thing to accomplish."

"To change, that is the most difficult thing to accomplish."

Isabelle Adjani, French Actress

46

"People judged my work without to have listened to it."

"People judged my work without to have listened to it."

Yannick Noah, French Athlete

46

"Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank."

"Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank."

Jean de la Bruyere, French Philosopher

Marriage, Man, Rank

46

"Sin is whatever obscures the soul."

"Sin is whatever obscures the soul."

Andre Gide, French Novelist

46

"In contrast, traditional classical music starts from an abstract musical schema. This is then notated and only expressed in concrete sound as a last stage, when it is performed."

"In contrast, traditional classical music starts from an abstract musical schema. This is then notated and only expressed in concrete sound as a last stage, when it is performed."

Pierre Schaeffer, French Composer

Music, Contrast, Sound

46

"Beyond the beauty, the sex, the titillation, the surface, there is a human being. And that has to emerge."

"Beyond the beauty, the sex, the titillation, the surface, there is a human being. And that has to emerge."

Jeanne Moreau, French Actress

Beauty, Sex, Being

46

"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."

"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."

Napoleon Bonaparte, French Leader

History, People, Events, Past

46

"Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it."

"Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it."

Blaise Pascal, French Philosopher

Truth, Love, Falsehood

46

"Life is very nice, but it lacks form. It's the aim of art to give it some."

"Life is very nice, but it lacks form. It's the aim of art to give it some."

Jean Anouilh, French Playwright

46

"Art is beauty, the perpetual invention of detail, the choice of words, the exquisite care of execution."

"Art is beauty, the perpetual invention of detail, the choice of words, the exquisite care of execution."

Theophile Gautier, French Poet

Art, Beauty, Care, Choice

46

"Aging gracefully is supposed to mean trying not to hide time passing and just looking a wreck. Don't worry girls, look like a wreck, that's the way it goes."

"Aging gracefully is supposed to mean trying not to hide time passing and just looking a wreck. Don't worry girls, look like a wreck, that's the way it goes."

Jeanne Moreau, French Actress

Time, Girls, Trying, Worry

46

"This universe can very well be expressed in words and syllables which are not those of one's mother tongue."

"This universe can very well be expressed in words and syllables which are not those of one's mother tongue."

Tahar Ben Jelloun, French Poet

Family, Mother, Tongue, Universe, Words

46

"The swimmer adrift on the open seas measures his strength, and strives with all his muscles to keep himself afloat. But what is he to do when there is no land on the horizon, and none beyond it?"

"The swimmer adrift on the open seas measures his strength, and strives with all his muscles to keep himself afloat. But what is he to do when there is no land on the horizon, and none beyond it?"

Georges Duhamel, French Novelist

Strength, Land, Open

46

"Frenchmen have an unlimited capacity for gallantry and indulge it on every occasion."

"Frenchmen have an unlimited capacity for gallantry and indulge it on every occasion."

Moliere, French Playwright

46

"A wise woman never yields by appointment. It should always be an unforeseen happiness."

"A wise woman never yields by appointment. It should always be an unforeseen happiness."

Stendhal, French Writer

Happiness, Woman

46

"The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood."

"The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood."

Jean Cocteau, French Director

46

"The greatest happiness is to transform one's feelings into action."

"The greatest happiness is to transform one's feelings into action."

Madame de Stael, French Writer

Happiness, Feelings, Action

46

"The power to command has never meant the power to remain mysterious."

"The power to command has never meant the power to remain mysterious."

Ferdinand Foch, French Soldier

46

"It is not in giving life but in risking life that man is raised above the animal; that is why superiority has been accorded in humanity not to the sex that brings forth but to that which kills."

"It is not in giving life but in risking life that man is raised above the animal; that is why superiority has been accorded in humanity not to the sex that brings forth but to that which kills."

Simone de Beauvoir, French Writer

Life, Sex, Superiority, Giving

46

"Even in Britain, the trade unions tell me that employment contracts have less protection than in the past."

"Even in Britain, the trade unions tell me that employment contracts have less protection than in the past."

Jacques Delors, French Economist

Past, Protection, Trade

46

"Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit."

"Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit."

Charles de Secondat, French Philosopher

Law, Laws, Liberty, Right

46

"Respect the burden."

"Respect the burden."

Napoleon Bonaparte, French Leader

Wisdom, Burden, Respect

46

"All which is beautiful and noble is the result of reason and calculation."

"All which is beautiful and noble is the result of reason and calculation."

Charles Baudelaire, French Poet

46

"Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude."

"Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude."

Alexis de Tocqueville, French Scientist

Equality, Democracy, Liberty, Nothing

46

"Had she stabbed me with a knife, she could not have hurt me more."

"Had she stabbed me with a knife, she could not have hurt me more."

Alexandre Dumas, French Dramatist

Emotion, Hurt, Betrayal, Pain

46

"It is well for the heart to be naive and the mind not to be."

"It is well for the heart to be naive and the mind not to be."

Anatole France, French Novelist

46

"A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost."

"A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost."

Jean-Paul Sartre, French Philosopher

46

"I can't belong to groups. I've tried. I behave normally, but people don't look at me normally."

"I can't belong to groups. I've tried. I behave normally, but people don't look at me normally."

Jeanne Moreau, French Actress

46

"So long as the laws remain such as they are today, employ some discretion: loud opinion forces us to do so; but in privacy and silence let us compensate ourselves for that cruel chastity we are obliged to display in public."

"So long as the laws remain such as they are today, employ some discretion: loud opinion forces us to do so; but in privacy and silence let us compensate ourselves for that cruel chastity we are obliged to display in public."

Marquis de Sade, French Novelist

Privacy, Chastity, Laws, Opinion

46

"The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me."

"The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me."

Denis Diderot, French Editor

46

"The history of the past interests us only in so far as it illuminates the history of the present."

"The history of the past interests us only in so far as it illuminates the history of the present."

Ernest Dimnet, French Clergyman

History, Past, Present

46

"I love to do very long and complicated scenes."

"I love to do very long and complicated scenes."

Catherine Deneuve, French Actress

46

"I wouldn't mind at all coming back to earth after my death."

"I wouldn't mind at all coming back to earth after my death."

Edith Piaf, French Musician

Death, Earth, Mind

46

"Great art picks up where nature ends."

"Great art picks up where nature ends."

Marc Chagall, French Artist

46

"A frenzied passion for art is a canker that devours everything else."

"A frenzied passion for art is a canker that devours everything else."

Charles Baudelaire, French Poet

46

"It is the perpetual dread of fear, the fear of fear, that shapes the face of a brave man."

"It is the perpetual dread of fear, the fear of fear, that shapes the face of a brave man."

Georges Bernanos, French Author

46

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