Comprendre... Vous n'avez que ce mot-là à la bouche, tous, depuis que je suis toute petite. Il fallait comprendre qu'on ne peut pas toucher à l'eau, à la belle eau fuyante et froide parce que cela mouille les dalles, à la terre parce que cela tache les robes. Il fallait comprendre qu'on ne doit pas manger tout à la fois, donner tout ce qu'on a dans ses poches au mendiant qu'on rencontre, courir, courir dans le vent jusqu'à ce qu'on tombe par terre et boire quand on a chaud et se baigner quand il est trop tôt ou trop tard, mais pas juste quand on en a envie ! Comprendre. Toujours comprendre. Moi, je ne veux pas comprendre. Je comprendrai quand je serai vieille [...]. Si je deviens vieille. Pas maintenant.
Jean Anouilh
Related Mes joues creuses et mon regard perçant ne facilitent pas les choses quand il s'agit de franchir un... BJøRN GABRIELSEN Quant à moi, maintenant, j'ai fermé mon âme. Je ne dis plus à personne ce que je crois, ce que j... GUY DE MAUPASSANT Il ne savait pas encore s'il souffrait parce qu'il suivait une pente et que l'avenir venait à lui s... ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPéRY Je ne connais pas la moitié d'entre vous autant que je le voudrais. Et j'aime moins de la moitié d... J.R.R. TOLKIEN Il n'y a que deux ou trois crimes à faire dans le monde, dit Curval, et, ceux-là faits, tout est d... MARQUIS DE SADE —Mais, quelle que soit l'importance de l'événement, dès qu'il est écrit sur le papier, il ne f... YōKO OGAWA La tolérance n'est pas une position contemplative, dispensant les indulgences à ce qui fut ou à c... CLAUDE LéVI-STRAUSS Si tu entamais ces friandises ? Ah, les Dragées surprises de Bertie Crochue ! Un jour, quand j’é... J.K. ROWLING Voilà bien la famille : même celui qui n'a pas sa place dans le monde, qui n'est ni célèbre ni r... ROBERT MUSIL Don Juan : [...] Les voilà, mes spectres, les spectres de ce que je ne suis pas. Ce sont eux qui me... HENRY DE MONTHERLANT Nous avons déjà parlé de la notion temporelle propre à chaque saison, l'été étant l'époque o... MARIE-CLAIRE DOLGHIN-LOYER Il est également vrai qu'un échange est une transaction dans laquelle les deux contractants gagnen... ANTOINE DESTUTT DE TRACY On dit père grec, mère suisse-française... On me demande, mais alors, quelle est votre patrie? Je... GEORGES HALDAS – Bah alors, c’est ce que je dis, avec la dotation qu’on a, ajouta Făneață puis il se leva... CăLIN TORSAN — Ce n'est pas en Egypte que je vais, répondit le Martinet. Je vais à la maison de la Mort. La M... OSCAR WILDE Quand je vous ai dit que vous aviez une prédisposition surnaturelle aux catastrophes, ce n'était p... CHRISTELLE DABOS Mais, j’aurai beau supplier, j’aurai beau me révolter, il n’y aura plus rien pour moi ; je n... HENRI BARBUSSE La porte s’est ouverte tout de suite et est allée co - gner contre le mur. J’ai perçu un claqu... SYLVIE BéRARD Du reste, la majorité des orientalistes ne sont et ne veulent être que des érudits ; tant qu’il... RENé GUéNON En effet: je mourais déjà. Je venais d'apprendre cette nouvelle horrible que tout humain apprend u... AMéLIE NOTHOMB Ne renoncez pas à faire ce que vous voulez vraiment faire. Là où il y a des rêves, de l’amour ... ELLA FITZGERALD Oui, je me rappelai. Je connaissais le creux de ce corps protecteur. Je connaissais les batteme... CARINA ROZENFELD Il défendait une théorie : les couples ne fréquentent pas les célibataires. D'abord parce que le... LAURENT BETTONI Je suis vivant. Et pendant que je mange, je ne fais rien d'autre que manger. Quand je marcherai, je ... PAULO COELHO Puis il réfléchit: la réalité ne coïncide habituellement pas avec les prévisions; avec une log... JORGE LUIS BORGES Ce n’est pas dans la jouissance que consiste le bonheur, c’est dans le désir, c’est à briser... MARQUIS DE SADE Lorsque la sexualité disparaît, c'est le corps de l'autre qui apparaît, dans sa présence vagueme... MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ En ce moment, je me sépare tant soit peu de moi-même et vais à la rencontre de la personne qui s'... VIRGINIA WOOLF Si, bien avant la puberté, et parfois même dès sa toute petite enfance, elle nous apparaît déj�... SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Quand je lis un livre, j'y mets toute mon imagination, de sorte qu'en ce sens la lecture ressemble u... DODIE SMITH Tu as tout à apprendre, tout ce qui ne s'apprend pas: la solitude, l'indifférence, la patience, le... GEORGES PEREC Regardez mon enfant, voyez l'éclat de ses boucles folles et son sourire pareil à un vol de papillo... JODI PICOULT On peut s’expliquer facilement par là un fait que nous avons eu fréquemment l’occasion de cons... RENé GUéNON Nous consommons ressources naturelles, énergie et matières premières comme si elles étaient des ... MARCEL LéGER - Toi et ta grande cause... (Ignorant le troubadour, le sorceleur avança en titubant.) Ta grande ca... ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI Une condamnation de la vie de la part du vivant n’est finalement que le symptôme d’une espèce ... FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE Si nous avons accordé à l'Amérique le privilège de l'histoire cumulative, n'est-ce pas, en effet... CLAUDE LéVI-STRAUSS Je ne veux pas que tu aimes "ça en moi", je veux que tu aimes "moi tout entier". MATHIAS MALZIEU Tous les jours arrivaient des avions et sur chacun, il y avait un message. « Gardez votre eau ... CHRISTIANE DUCHESNE Lorsque la confusion règne, il est facile de se rappeler cette vérité : Je ne suis ni mes pensée... ECKHART TOLLE Tu sais, le mot FIN n'apparaît jamais quand tu termines un livre. Ce n'est pas comme au cinéma. Qu... ELIF SHAFAK - Toi et ta grande cause... (Ignorant le troubadour, le sorceleur avança en titubant.) Ta grande ca... ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI Une catastrophe, en général et quelle que soit sa nature, s'annonce avec fracas, a son lot de sign... LUCAS VALLERIE Comment des sociétés contemporaines, restées ignorantes de l'électricité et de la machine à va... CLAUDE LéVI-STRAUSS Le développement des connaissances préhistoriques et archéologiques tend à étaler dans l'espace... CLAUDE LéVI-STRAUSS As-tu déjà été amoureux? C'est horrible non? Ca rend si vulnérable. Ca t'ouvre la poitrine et l... NEIL GAIMAN Je savais qu'un afflux inespéré d'énergie l'avait levé de son lit, lui avait donné la force de ... MURIEL BARBERY La tournée terminée, Tom et Roger pensèrent qu'après le succès de I Shot The Sheriff, ce serait... ERIC CLAPTON L'idée préconçue entrave et endommage la libre et pleine manifestation de la vie psychique, que j... C.G. JUNG Tu n’es encore pour moi qu’un petit garçon tout semblable à cent mille petits garcons. Et je n... ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPéRY C’est ainsi que, par exemple, l’idée de l’Infini, qui est en réalité la plus positive de to... RENé GUéNON Moi qui éprouve, comme chacun, le besoin d’être reconnu, je me sens pur en toi et vais à toi. J... ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPéRY Qu’est-ce qui peut seul être notre doctrine ? — Que personne ne donne à l’homme ses qualité... FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE Ces enfants mûrissent trop tôt parce que, ayant été rendus sensibles aux malheurs, c'est ce qu'i... BORIS CYRULNIK - Aimer, c'est toujours dangereux, Martin ! Aimer, c'est espérer tout gagner en risquant de tout pe... GUILLAUME MUSSO Les mystiques et leurs « œuvres complètes ». Quand on s'adresse à Dieu, et à Dieu seul, co... EMIL M. CIORAN Il y a des personnes à qui l'intention ne vaut rien, seul le hasard leur est propice. Le silence co... ERRI DE LUCA On ne renonce pas à sauver le navire dans la tempête parce qu'on ne saurait empêcher le vent de s... THOMAS MORE Je choisis des mots simples et concrets... J'essaie de faire des phrases courtes et j'évite les inv... JACQUES POULIN Quand il mangeait des babas ou des éclairs, il se sentait coupable jusqu'à l'âme, à cause de la ... BOILEAU-NARCEJAC Cette qualité de la joie n’est-elle pas le fruit le plus précieux de la civilisation qui est nô... ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPéRY À l’époque primordiale, l’homme était, en lui-même, parfaitement équilibré quant au compl�... RENé GUéNON A qui écris-tu? -A toi. En fait, je ne t'écris pas vraiment, j'écris ce que j'ai envie de fa... ANNA GAVALDA J'ai consulté mon téléphone: je n'avais aucun message. C'est à cela que servent les téléphones... DAVID FOENKINOS Bellegarrigue revient en France en février 1848, la veille des événements qui vont mener au renve... ANSELME BELLEGARRIGUE J'ai encore un vif souvenir de Freud me disant : "Mon cher Jung, promettez-moi de ne jamais abandonn... C.G. JUNG On se prépare à la jouissance du siècle, et, le moment venu, elle a un goût de Fernet Branca. Su... DANIEL PENNAC La nuit, tout sent bon", disait Mondo. "C'est parce qu'on ne voit pas", disait Thi Chin. "... JEAN-MARIE G. LE CLéZIO - J’aidais justement Ghezumi et Kassergh à bâter l’hypocras : du vin au miel avec de la cannel... CYRILLE MENDES Tel fut aussi le cas d'un Nietzsche, génie volcanique s'il en est ; ici encore - mais d'une façon ... FRITHJOF SCHUON Quoi qu’il en soit, Leibnitz ne sut jamais s’expliquer nettement sur les principes de son calcul... RENé GUéNON En admettant que l’on ait compris ce qu’il y a de sacrilège dans un pareil soulèvement contre ... FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE Il parvint à la reconnaitre au milieu du tumulte et, à travers les larmes de sa douleur irrémédi... GABRIEL GARCíA MáRQUEZ -Parce que nous, on s'aime. Et on forme une famille, tous les quatre. On est le clan Costello. Tu sa... MUSSO GUILLAUM Oui, lorsqu'on surveille le temps, il passe très lentement. J'aime beaucoup la température, quatre... THOMAS MANN - J'ai toujours eu un problème avec les tomates-mozzarella - Ah oui, lequel? - je me dema... GILLES LEGARDINIER tout est dans la nature si une personne essaye de vous changer ses quel ne vous aime pas vraiment de... MARTY [...] Sans entrer encore dans la question de la « composition du continu », on voit donc que le no... RENé GUéNON Chaque âge a ses plaisirs, son esprit et ses mœurs. Un jeune homme, toujours bouillant ... NICOLAS BOILEAU L'objectivité, vécue dans ce rêve et dans ces visions, relève de l'individuation accomplie. Elle... C.G. JUNG D’où viennent ces influences mystérieuses qui changent en découragement notre bonheur et notre ... GUY DE MAUPASSANT et de fines rides d'expression lui encadrent la bouche, parenthèses renfermant toute une vie de mot... JODI PICOULT Le combat narcissique durerait aussi longtemps que la sociabilité elle-même, il en serait l'ultime... MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ Nous sommes tous des naufragés de l'âme vois-tu, la peinture n'est que le reflet de ce chagrin, an... OLIVIER WEBER On meurt toujours trop tôt ― ou trop tard. Et cependant la vie est là, terminée: le trait est t... JEAN-PAUL SARTRE En pleine bagarre, vous vous en tenez au strict nécessaire, à savoir étriper l’adversaire en fa... JONATHAN STROUD La parenté de l'égyptien ancien et du berbère n'est plus à démontrer. Bien que les affinités l... MOHAMMED CHAFIK Les gens créent de gros problèmes à partir de rien. Vous les créez car sans problème vous vous ... DHARMA Il est incertain où la mort nous attende, attendons-la partout. La préméditation de la mort est p... MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Alors, Hermione, tu admires toujours autant Lockhart, maintenant? dit Ron à travers le rideau. Si H... J.K. ROWLING Avec quelque spontanéité que nous obéissions à la voix qui nous dicte cette abnégation, nous se... ÉMILE DURKHEIM Les tentatives faites pour connaître la richesse et l'originalité des cultures humaines, et pour l... CLAUDE LéVI-STRAUSS Toutes les opinions ne se valent pas, et il ne faut pas confondre l'éloquence d'une parole avec la ... TZVETAN TODOROV Il y a des beautés qui sautent aux yeux et d'autres qui sont écrites en hyéroglyphes: on met du t... AMéLIE NOTHOMB Caustique ? Vous voulez dire : méchant ? Oui, je suis un peu méchant, dit Settembrini. Mon regret ... THOMAS MANN Jeannot la bêtise des amoureux est immense, végétale, animale, astrale. Que faire? Comment te fai... JEAN COCTEAU L'amour est une catastrophe magnifique: savoir que l'on fonce dans un mur et accélérer quand même... FRéDéRIC BEIGBEDER Tout le monde voulait être dans le coup ce jour-là. Car, ce jour-là, on allait écrire l'Histoire... THOMAS KENEALLY Ce qui m'intéresse, c'est de savoir qui paie les Rédempteurs, pas de me débarrasser d'une poigné... GABRIEL KATZ Tu finiras sûrement par le trouver le truc qui leur fait si peur, à eux tous, à tous ces salauds ... LOUIS-FERDINAND CéLINE
More Jean Anouilh
Effective action is always unjust. JEAN ANOUILH Until the day of his death, no man can be sure of his courage. JEAN ANOUILH Saintliness is also a temptation. JEAN ANOUILH Propaganda is a soft weapon; hold it in your hands too long, and it will move about like a snake, an... JEAN ANOUILH Nothing is irreparable in politics. JEAN ANOUILH It is restful, tragedy, because one knows that there is no more lousy hope left. You know you're cau... JEAN ANOUILH Talent is like a faucet; while it is open, you have to write. Inspiration? -- a hoax fabricated by p... JEAN ANOUILH One cannot weep for the entire world, it is beyond human strength. One must choose. JEAN ANOUILH Every man thinks God is on his side. The rich and powerful know he is. JEAN ANOUILH What you get free costs too much. JEAN ANOUILH There is love of course. And then there's life, its enemy. JEAN ANOUILH Poor little men, poor little cocks! As soon as they're old enough, they swell their plumage to be co... JEAN ANOUILH The only immorality is not to do what one has to do when one has to do it. JEAN ANOUILH With God, what is terrible is that one never knows whether it's not just a trick of the devil. JEAN ANOUILH Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy --common clay, if you... JEAN ANOUILH It takes a certain courage and a certain greatness to be truly base. JEAN ANOUILH Beauty is one of the rare things that do not lead to doubt of God. JEAN ANOUILH Things are beautiful if you love them. JEAN ANOUILH To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elb... JEAN ANOUILH What fun it would be to be poor, as long as one was excessively poor! Anything in excess is most ex... JEAN ANOUILH A good actor must never be in love with anyone but himself. JEAN ANOUILH Our entire life - consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are. JEAN ANOUILH Beauty is one of the rare things which does not lead to doubt of God. JEAN ANOUILH An ugly sight, a man who is afraid. JEAN ANOUILH Love is, above all, the gift of oneself JEAN ANOUILH Have you noticed that life, real honest to goodness life, with murders and catastrophes and fabulous... JEAN ANOUILH Inspiration is a farce that poets have invented to give themselves importance. JEAN ANOUILH Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy /common clay, if you ... JEAN ANOUILH Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute! Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage... JEAN ANOUILH Tragedy is restful: and the reason is that hope, that foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it. JEAN ANOUILH Life is a wonderful thing to talk about, or to read about in history books - but it is terrible when... JEAN ANOUILH Tragedy is restful: and the reason is that hope, that foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it. JEAN ANOUILH Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy -- common clay, if y... JEAN ANOUILH Love is, above all else, the gift of oneself. JEAN ANOUILH Talent is like a faucet; while it is open, you have to write. Inspiration? - a hoax fabricated by po... JEAN ANOUILH Talent is like a faucet, while it is open, one must write. JEAN ANOUILH Saintliness is also a temptation JEAN ANOUILH Life is a wonderful thing to talk about, or to read about in history books - but it is terrible when... JEAN ANOUILH To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elb... JEAN ANOUILH I like reality. It tastes like bread. JEAN ANOUILH Oh, love is real enough; you will find it someday, but it has one archenemy - and that is life. JEAN ANOUILH Some men like to make a little garden out of life and walk down a path. JEAN ANOUILH Life has a way of setting things in order and leaving them be. Very tidy, is life. JEAN ANOUILH We poison our lives with fear of burglary and shipwreck, and, ask anyone, the house is never burgled... JEAN ANOUILH The object of art is to give life a shape JEAN ANOUILH Our entire life consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are JEAN ANOUILH Men create real miracles when they use their God-given courage and intelligence JEAN ANOUILH Beauty is one of the rare things that do not lead to doubt of God JEAN ANOUILH I spit on your happiness! I spit on your idea of life--that life that must go on, come what may. You... JEAN ANOUILH Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law. JEAN ANOUILH We poison our lives with fear of burglary and shipwreck, and, ask anyone, the house is never burgled... JEAN ANOUILH Hysterics are the hallmark of the production of genius. Insults are its common currency. JEAN ANOUILH All evil comes from the old. They grow fat on ideas and young men die of them. JEAN ANOUILH Life is very nice, but it lacks form. It's the aim of art to give it some. JEAN ANOUILH God is on everyone's side... and in the last analysis, he is on the side with plenty of money an... JEAN ANOUILH There is love of course. And then there's life, its enemy. JEAN ANOUILH A genius knows how to make himself easily understood without being obvious about it. JEAN ANOUILH When you are forty, half of you belongs to the past... And when you are seventy, nearly all of you. JEAN ANOUILH Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. JEAN ANOUILH Men create real miracles when they use their God-given courage and intelligence. JEAN ANOUILH Oh, love is real enough; you will find it someday, but it has one archenemy -- and that is life. JEAN ANOUILH ARDELE Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. JEAN ANOUILH ARDELE There is always a period when a man with a beard shaves it off. This period does not last. He return... JEAN COCTEAU The conscience of children is formed by the influences that surround them; their notions of good and... JEAN PAUL The moon looks upon many night flowers; the night flowers see but one moon. JEAN INGELOW Only the mediocre are always at their best. JEAN GIRAUDOUX A healthful hunger for a great idea is the beauty and blessedness of life. JEAN INGELOW My daddy was a minister, my grandfather was a voodoo priest, my uncle was a mason; I was raised with... WYCLEF JEAN Like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment. JEAN BAUDRILLARD At the end of the day, just know that God made you, so you can be your own individual, and don't... WYCLEF JEAN In my long and difficult and mature life, I have come to learn that the less I know about acting and... JEAN SEBERG There are souls which fall from heaven like flowers, but ere they bloom are crushed under the foul t... JEAN PAUL Too often, we make budget cuts - then blow the savings. Instead, think about your financial picture.... JEAN CHATZKY One way to make sure you don't lose assets in the future is to streamline your accounts. Conside... JEAN CHATZKY The brave men die in war. It takes great luck or judgment not to be killed. Once, at least, the head... JEAN GIRAUDOUX If you want to give a tangible present, but you know the recipient wants cash, give a little bit of ... JEAN CHATZKY Idleness is many gathered miseries in one name. JEAN PAUL It would be ugly to watch people poking sticks at a caged rat. It is uglier still to watch rats poki... JEAN HARRIS Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it, and conquering it. JEAN PAUL Turning a blind eye to your finances always brings trouble. When you let the bills or late notices s... JEAN CHATZKY I don't judge a regime by the damning criticism of the opposition, but by the ingenuous praise of th... JEAN ROSTAND A poor person who is unhappy is in a better position than a
rich person who is unhappy because the p... JEAN KERR The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. JEAN PAUL That's the best way to feed the human mind. That's how Bob Marley did it. He never put it in... WYCLEF JEAN Men try to run life according to their wishes; life runs itself according to necessity. JEAN TOOMER Bob Marley stood for universal peace and love. He tried to break racial barriers. WYCLEF JEAN The look of a king is itself a deed. JEAN PAUL Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie. JEAN COCTEAU Marrying a man is like buying something you've been admiring for a long time in a shop window. You m... JEAN KERR I think I am one of those who can manage not to take on a completely different appearance under thei... JEAN ROSTAND Unlike other loans, a reverse mortgage doesn't have to be repaid until the borrower moves out of... JEAN CHATZKY A woman of mystique is fully aware of her flaws and weaknesses, yet she is strong enough to admit ... JEAN LUSH Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth. JEAN ROSTAND When a scientist is ahead of his times, it is often through misunderstanding of current, rather than... JEAN ROSTAND It is not easy to imagine how little interested a scientist usually is in the work of any other, wit... JEAN ROSTAND It is sometimes important for science to know how to forget the things she is surest of. JEAN ROSTAND A body of work such as Pasteur's is inconceivable in our time: no man would be given a chance to cre... JEAN ROSTAND The truly terrible thing is that everybody has their reasons. JEAN RENOIR To reflect is to disturb one's thoughts. JEAN ROSTAND Perhaps the world's second worst crime is boredom. The first is being a bore. JEAN BAUDRILLARD She said, "As long as we're with each other--" "We know we're in exactly the right place," he f... JEAN FERRIS Prerequisite for rereadability in books: that they be forgettable. JEAN ROSTAND The books one has written in the past have two surprises in store: one couldn't write them again, an... JEAN ROSTAND She could give herself up to the written word as naturally as a good dancer to music or a fine swimm... JEAN RHYS In politics, yesterday's lie is attacked only to flatter today's. JEAN ROSTAND In order to remain true to oneself one ought to renounce one's party three times a day. JEAN ROSTAND It is sometimes well for a blatant error to draw attention to overmodest truths. JEAN ROSTAND One of the most difficult things to contend with in a hospital is that assumption on the part of the... JEAN KERR Whether man is disposed to yield to nature or to oppose her, he cannot do without a correct understa... JEAN ROSTAND Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains... JEAN ROSTAND The only things one can admire at length are those one admires without knowing why. JEAN ROSTAND There are certain moments when we might wish the future were built by men of the past. JEAN ROSTAND Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains t... JEAN ROSTAND The only things one can admire at length are those one admires without knowing why. JEAN ROSTAND God, that dumping ground of our dreams. JEAN ROSTAND God, that checkroom of our dreams. JEAN ROSTAND I'm starting to believe that happily ever after includes people doing things that upset each other. ... JEAN FERRIS The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of d... JEAN PIAGET The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of ... JEAN PIAGET You don't seem to realize that a poor person who is unhappy is in a better position than a rich pe... JEAN KERR Strong character is brought out by change, weak ones by permanence. JEAN PAUL The nobility of a human being is strictly independent of that of his convictions. JEAN ROSTAND The timid are afraid before the danger, the cowardly while in danger, and the courageous after dange... JEAN PAUL We can be seduced...by powerful political groups that promise more wealth and lower taxes. Those wit... JEAN VANIER Mirrors should think longer before they reflect. JEAN COCTEAU At twenty-four she imagined with dread that she was growing old. JEAN RHYS A man must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur, and dreaming is nursed in darkness. JEAN GENET Stupidity, outrage, vanity, cruelty, iniquity, bad faith, falsehood -- we fail to see the whole arra... JEAN ROSTAND Power may be at the end of a gun, but sometimes it's also at the end of the shadow or the image of a... JEAN GENET Contact with men who wield power and authority still leaves an intangible sense of repulsion. It's v... JEAN BAUDRILLARD Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel. JEAN RACINE Memory is the only paradise from which we cannot be driven. JEAN PAUL The only medicine that does women more good than harm is dress. JEAN PAUL To be adult is to be alone. JEAN ROSTAND Perhaps all music, even the newest, is not so much something discovered as something that re-emerges... JEAN GENET All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects an... JEAN COCTEAU No author can be as moral as his work and no preacher as pious as his sermons. JEAN PAUL Humankind's chief fault is that they have so many small ones. JEAN PAUL Passion makes the best observations and the sorriest conclusions. JEAN PAUL The parent is low, who having children, truly feels bored. JEAN PAUL It takes a very deep-rooted opinion to survive unexpressed. JEAN ROSTAND You don't seem to realize that a poor person who is unhappy is in a better position than a rich pers... JEAN KERR If a hermit lives in a state of ecstasy, his lack of comfort becomes the height of comfort. He must ... JEAN COCTEAU We all have the extraordinary coded within us... waiting to be released. JEAN HOUSTON The era of the political was one of anomie: crisis, violence, madness and revolution. The era of the... JEAN BAUDRILLARD Politicians -- power itself -- are abject because they merely embody the profound contempt people ha... JEAN BAUDRILLARD It only takes a politician believing in what he says for the others to stop believing him. JEAN BAUDRILLARD The abjection of our political situation is the only true challenge today. Only facing up to this si... JEAN BAUDRILLARD The end we aim at must be known, before the way can be made. JEAN PAUL The average, healthy, well-adjusted adult gets up at seven-thirty in the morning feeling just plain ... JEAN KERR The ideal, without doubt, varies, but its enemies, alas, are always the same. JEAN ROSTAND Brevity is the body and soul of wit. JEAN PAUL Idleness is many gathered miseries in one name. JEAN PAUL No one is more profoundly sad as one who laughs too much. JEAN PAUL Even though a number of people have tried, no one has ever found a way to drink for a living. JEAN KERR It may offend us to hear our own thoughts expressed by others: we are not sure enough of their souls... JEAN ROSTAND One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree... JEAN COCTEAU If you can keep your head about you when all about you are losing theirs, its just possible you have... JEAN KERR If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasp... JEAN KERR Beauty in art is often nothing but ugliness subdued. JEAN ROSTAND I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you wa... JEAN KERR Fiction is not imagination. It is what anticipates imagination by giving it the form of reality. Thi... JEAN BAUDRILLARD The divine is perhaps that quality in man which permits him to endure the lack of God. JEAN ROSTAND One must credit an hypothesis with all that has had to be discovered in order to demolish it. JEAN ROSTAND The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order. JEAN COCTEAU Small crimes always precedes great ones. JEAN RACINE Repudiating the virtues of your world, criminals hopelessly agree to organize a forbidden universe. ... JEAN GENET Crimes of which a people is ashamed constitute its real history. The same is true of man. JEAN GENET Our senses are indeed our doors and windows on this world, in a very real sense the key to the unloc... JEAN HOUSTON Poetry is indispensable --if I only knew what for. JEAN COCTEAU Such is the role of poetry. It unveils, in the strict sense of the word. It lays bare, under a light... JEAN COCTEAU Art is the most passionate orgy within man's grasp. JEAN DUBUFFET Art is science made clear. JEAN COCTEAU One must be a living man and a posthumous artist. JEAN COCTEAU Education makes us more stupid than the brutes. A thousand voices call to us on every hand, but our ... JEAN GIRAUDOUX Despair is the only genuine atheism. JEAN PAUL I am a lie who always speaks the truth. JEAN COCTEAU I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead. JEAN COCTEAU Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying. JEAN COCTEAU Deep down, no one really believes they have a right to live. But this death sentence generally stays... JEAN BAUDRILLARD In youth one has tears without grief, in old age grief without tears. JEAN PAUL What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you. JEAN COCTEAU Renown? I've already got more of it than those I respect, and will never have as much as those for w... JEAN ROSTAND Anyone who knows a strange fact shares in its singularity. JEAN GENET Other exercises develop single powers and muscles, but dancing embellishes, exercises, and equalizes... JEAN PAUL No heroine can create a hero through love of one, but she can give birth to one. JEAN PAUL The fame of heroes owes little to the extent of their conquests and all to the success of the tribut... JEAN GENET To hate fatigues. JEAN ROSTAND There is an invisible garment woven around us from our earliest years; it is made of the way we eat,... JEAN GIRAUDOUX Greatness, in order to gain recognition, must all too often consent to ape greatness. JEAN ROSTAND We must watch over our modesty in the presence of those who cannot understand its grounds. JEAN ROSTAND My only hope lies in my despair. JEAN RACINE Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have isn't permanent. JEAN KERR Without money honor is merely a disease. JEAN RACINE It's no longer a warmth hidden in my veins: it's Venus entire and whole fastening on her prey. JEAN RACINE Without God there is for mankind no purpose, no goal, no hope, only a wavering future, an eternal dr... JEAN PAUL The fear of being wrong is the prime inhibitor of the creative process. JEAN BRYANT Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other han... JEAN COCTEAU There are certain moments when we might wish the future were built by men of the past. JEAN ROSTAND The child is not to be educated for the present, but for the remote future, and often is opposition ... JEAN PAUL