Quotes by French Authors | Beyond Motive 91/164

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Quotes by French Authors

"A man of the world must seem to be what he wishes to be thought."

"A man of the world must seem to be what he wishes to be thought."

Jean de la Bruyere, French Philosopher

Thought, Man, Wishes, World

37

"The Russians imitate French ways, but always at a distance of fifty years."

"The Russians imitate French ways, but always at a distance of fifty years."

Stendhal, French Writer

Politics, Years

37

"There are more old drunkards than old physicians."

"There are more old drunkards than old physicians."

Francois Rabelais, French Clergyman

Old, Physicians

37

"One is often guilty by being too just."

"One is often guilty by being too just."

Pierre Corneille, French Dramatist

37

"I always try to keep that feeling of being on the edge. I'm afraid of knowing too well and seeming mechanical."

"I always try to keep that feeling of being on the edge. I'm afraid of knowing too well and seeming mechanical."

Catherine Deneuve, French Actress

37

"Any father whose son raises his hand against him is guilty of having produced a son who raised his hand against him."

"Any father whose son raises his hand against him is guilty of having produced a son who raised his hand against him."

Charles Peguy, French Philosopher

Family, Father, Son

37

"The love of beauty in its multiple forms is the noblest gift of the human cerebrum."

"The love of beauty in its multiple forms is the noblest gift of the human cerebrum."

Alexis Carrel, French Scientist

37

"It is not always by plugging away at a difficulty and sticking to it that one overcomes it; often it is by working on the one next to it. Some things and some people have to be approached obliquely, at an angle."

"It is not always by plugging away at a difficulty and sticking to it that one overcomes it; often it is by working on the one next to it. Some things and some people have to be approached obliquely, at an angle."

Andre Gide, French Novelist

People, Difficulty

37

"I would not like to see a person who is sober, moderate, chaste and just say that there is no God. They would speak disinterestedly at least, but such a person is not to be found."

"I would not like to see a person who is sober, moderate, chaste and just say that there is no God. They would speak disinterestedly at least, but such a person is not to be found."

Jean de la Bruyere, French Philosopher

37

"Man is more interesting than men. God made him and not them in his image. Each one is more precious than all."

"Man is more interesting than men. God made him and not them in his image. Each one is more precious than all."

Andre Gide, French Novelist

37

"Love is more pleasant than marriage for the same reason that novels are more amusing than history."

"Love is more pleasant than marriage for the same reason that novels are more amusing than history."

Nicolas Chamfort, French Writer

History, Love, Marriage, Reason

37

"No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends, as to give them no cause to miss him less."

"No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends, as to give them no cause to miss him less."

Jean de la Bruyere, French Philosopher

Friendship, Cause, Friends, Man

37

"You should just enjoy it, but as soon as you decide that it is going to be your career, no matter whether you want to be a doctor or an architect or anything else, you need to work 5 hours a day."

"You should just enjoy it, but as soon as you decide that it is going to be your career, no matter whether you want to be a doctor or an architect or anything else, you need to work 5 hours a day."

Guy Forget, French Athlete

Work, Career, Day, Want

37

"I have always had more dread of a pen, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper than of a sword or pistol."

"I have always had more dread of a pen, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper than of a sword or pistol."

Alexandre Dumas, French Dramatist

Creativity, Fear, Writing, Anxiety

37

"I've always done 20 things at once. It's my way of staying alive, not to keep one dish cooking, but several dishes going. And I'm pretty organized."

"I've always done 20 things at once. It's my way of staying alive, not to keep one dish cooking, but several dishes going. And I'm pretty organized."

Patrice Leconte, French Director

Multitasking, Cooking, Pretty

37

"It is no use painting the foot of the tree white, the strength of the bark cries out from beneath the paint."

"It is no use painting the foot of the tree white, the strength of the bark cries out from beneath the paint."

Aime Cesaire, French Poet

Strength, Painting

37

"Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws."

"Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws."

Charles de Secondat, French Philosopher

Being, Laws, Man

37

"The greatest difficulty in antiquity with that of altering the law; among the moderns, it is that of altering the manners."

"The greatest difficulty in antiquity with that of altering the law; among the moderns, it is that of altering the manners."

Alexis de Tocqueville, French Scientist

Law, Difficulty, Observation, Change

37

"That's what I like about film-it can be bizarre, classic, normal, romantic. Cinema is to me the most versatile thing."

"That's what I like about film-it can be bizarre, classic, normal, romantic. Cinema is to me the most versatile thing."

Catherine Deneuve, French Actress

Bizarre, Cinema, Film, Romantic

37

"I seemed to belong to three countries: I had an apartment in Paris, a house in Hollywood, and when I married British theater director Peter Hall, I moved to London."

"I seemed to belong to three countries: I had an apartment in Paris, a house in Hollywood, and when I married British theater director Peter Hall, I moved to London."

Leslie Caron, French Actress

Hollywood, London, Paris, Theater

37

"Especially when I first really started to work with Kenneth and Franklin, who had been in space already. And so, they were able to talk about space and tell me a few things about how things would really happen."

"Especially when I first really started to work with Kenneth and Franklin, who had been in space already. And so, they were able to talk about space and tell me a few things about how things would really happen."

Philippe Perrin, French Astronaut

Work, First, Space, Talk

37

"I don't judge a regime by the damning criticism of the opposition, but by the ingenuous praise of the partisan."

"I don't judge a regime by the damning criticism of the opposition, but by the ingenuous praise of the partisan."

Jean Rostand, French Scientist

Criticism, Opposition, Praise

37

"Put off your imagination, as you put off your overcoat, when you enter the laboratory. Put it on again, as you put on your overcoat, when you leave."

"Put off your imagination, as you put off your overcoat, when you enter the laboratory. Put it on again, as you put on your overcoat, when you leave."

Claude Bernard, French Psychologist

37

"She had already allowed her delectable lover to pluck that flower which, so different from the rose to which it is nevertheless sometimes compared, has not the same faculty of being reborn each spring."

"She had already allowed her delectable lover to pluck that flower which, so different from the rose to which it is nevertheless sometimes compared, has not the same faculty of being reborn each spring."

Marquis de Sade, French Novelist

37

"Of course the illusion of art is to make one believe that great literature is very close to life, but exactly the opposite is true. Life is amorphous, literature is formal."

"Of course the illusion of art is to make one believe that great literature is very close to life, but exactly the opposite is true. Life is amorphous, literature is formal."

Francoise Sagan, French Playwright

Art, Life, Illusion, Literature

37

"I like some of the early silent films because I love to watch how actors had to play then. What would interest me today is to do a silent film."

"I like some of the early silent films because I love to watch how actors had to play then. What would interest me today is to do a silent film."

Catherine Deneuve, French Actress

Love, Actors, Film, Interest

37

"That which, perhaps, hears more nonsense than anything in the world, is a picture in a museum."

"That which, perhaps, hears more nonsense than anything in the world, is a picture in a museum."

Edmond De Goncourt, French Writer

Art, Nonsense, World

37

"It is a delicious thing to write, to be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creating. Today, for instance, as man and woman, both lover and mistress, I rode in a forest on an autumn afternoon under the yellow leaves, and I was also the horses, the leaves, the wind, the words my people uttered, even the red sun that made them almost close their love-drowned eyes."

"It is a delicious thing to write, to be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creating. Today, for instance, as man and woman, both lover and mistress, I rode in a forest on an autumn afternoon under the yellow leaves, and I was also the horses, the leaves, the wind, the words my people uttered, even the red sun that made them almost close their love-drowned eyes."

Gustave Flaubert, French Novelist

Art, Creativity, Writing, Expression, Imagination

37

"Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild."

"Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild."

Denis Diderot, French Editor

37

"For the theatre one needs long arms... an artiste with short arms can never make a fine gesture."

"For the theatre one needs long arms... an artiste with short arms can never make a fine gesture."

Sarah Bernhardt, French Actress

37

"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."

"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."

Francois de La Rochefoucauld, French Writer

Health, Food, Discipline, Life, Art

37

"His [Morel's] nature was really like a sheet of paper that has been folded so often in every direction that it is impossible to straighten it out."

"His [Morel's] nature was really like a sheet of paper that has been folded so often in every direction that it is impossible to straighten it out."

Marcel Proust, French Author

Psychology, Nature, Complexity, Character, Human

37

"The one way of tolerating existence is to lose oneself in literature as in a perpetual orgy."

"The one way of tolerating existence is to lose oneself in literature as in a perpetual orgy."

Gustave Flaubert, French Novelist

Philosophy, Literature, Existence, Escape, Solitude

37

"Permanent success cannot be achieved except by incessant intellectual labour, always inspired by the ideal."

"Permanent success cannot be achieved except by incessant intellectual labour, always inspired by the ideal."

Sarah Bernhardt, French Actress

37

"A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind."

"A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind."

Eugene Ionesco, French Dramatist

Art, Work, Adventure, Mind

37

"It is not a woman I want - it is all women."

"It is not a woman I want - it is all women."

Henri Barbusse, French Novelist

Woman, Women, Want

37

"[They] can't understand you: you're such an exceptional person. That's what I liked about you from the start, I felt that you weren't like everybody else."

"[They] can't understand you: you're such an exceptional person. That's what I liked about you from the start, I felt that you weren't like everybody else."

Marcel Proust, French Author

Identity, Understanding, Individual, Uniqueness, Human

37

"I give everything I have to give on the screen. I feel I don't owe the public anything else."

"I give everything I have to give on the screen. I feel I don't owe the public anything else."

Emmanuelle Beart, French Actress

37

"Animals awaken, first facially, then bodily. Men's bodies wake before their faces do. The animal sleeps within its body, man sleeps with his body in his mind."

"Animals awaken, first facially, then bodily. Men's bodies wake before their faces do. The animal sleeps within its body, man sleeps with his body in his mind."

Malcolm De Chazal, French Writer

Man, Men, Animals, Body, Faces

37

"After he had fully determined that the young man was at the bottom of this state of affairs, and that it all came from him, he Jean Valjean, the regenerated man, the man who had laboured so much upon his soul, the man who had made so many efforts to resolve all life, all misery, and all misfortune into love; he looked within himself, and there he saw a spectre, Hatred."

"After he had fully determined that the young man was at the bottom of this state of affairs, and that it all came from him, he Jean Valjean, the regenerated man, the man who had laboured so much upon his soul, the man who had made so many efforts to resolve all life, all misery, and all misfortune into love; he looked within himself, and there he saw a spectre, Hatred."

Victor Hugo, French Author

Emotion, Hatred, Love, Suffering, Transformation

37

"He had to submit to the fate of every newcomer in a small town, where many tongues talk but few heads think."

"He had to submit to the fate of every newcomer in a small town, where many tongues talk but few heads think."

Victor Hugo, French Author

Social, Fate, Speech, Thought, Conformity

37

"Even his mother, his own mother, had once accused him of being a snob."

"Even his mother, his own mother, had once accused him of being a snob."

Marcel Proust, French Author

Family, Identity, Judgment, Conflict

37

"The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through."

"The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through."

Alexis de Tocqueville, French Scientist

Society, Time, American, Old

37

"It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire."

"It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire."

Denis Diderot, French Editor

Desire, Fact, Will

37

"Madness is the absolute break with the work of art; it forms the constitutive moment of abolition, which dissolves in time the truth of the work of art."

"Madness is the absolute break with the work of art; it forms the constitutive moment of abolition, which dissolves in time the truth of the work of art."

Michel Foucault, French Historian

Art, Time, Work, Truth

37

"A new gadget that lasts only five minutes is worth more than an immortal work that bores everyone."

"A new gadget that lasts only five minutes is worth more than an immortal work that bores everyone."

Francis Picabia, French Artist

37

"He was as great as a man can be without morality."

"He was as great as a man can be without morality."

Alexis de Tocqueville, French Scientist

37

"How could there be any question of acquiring or possessing, when the one thing needful for a man is to become - to be at last, and to die in the fullness of his being."

"How could there be any question of acquiring or possessing, when the one thing needful for a man is to become - to be at last, and to die in the fullness of his being."

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French Novelist

Being, Man, Question

37

"There are people who laugh to show their fine teeth; and there are those who cry to show their good hearts."

"There are people who laugh to show their fine teeth; and there are those who cry to show their good hearts."

Joseph Roux, French Clergyman

37

"In revolutions authority remains with the greatest scoundrels."

"In revolutions authority remains with the greatest scoundrels."

Georges Jacques Danton, French Revolutionary

37

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