To have a solid foundation of skepticism, -that is to say, the faculty of changing at any moment, of turning back, of facing successively the metamorphoses of life.
Rémy de Gourmont
Related I don't know if I have a favorite color. KATE MIDDLETON It's very special having a new little girl. KATE MIDDLETON The unfortunate thing is that, sometimes, we slip, but, fortunately, consciously or unconsciously, w... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH How should I know?" said Alice, surprised at her own courage. "It's no business of mine." The Q... LEWIS CARROLL Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it. POPE JOHN PAUL II Humanity should question itself, once more, about the absurd and always unfair phenomenon of war, on... POPE JOHN PAUL II Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry a... POPE JOHN PAUL II Wars generally do not resolve the problems for which they are fought and therefore... prove ultimate... POPE JOHN PAUL II I kiss the soil as if I placed a kiss on the hands of a mother, for the homeland is our earthly moth... POPE JOHN PAUL II The vow of celibacy is a matter of keeping one's word to Christ and the Church. a duty and a pro... POPE JOHN PAUL II From now on it is only through a conscious choice and through a deliberate policy that humanity can ... POPE JOHN PAUL II Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song. POPE JOHN PAUL II An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded. POPE JOHN PAUL II Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it. POPE JOHN PAUL II The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and ... POPE JOHN PAUL II Today, for the first time in history, a Bishop of Rome sets foot on English soil. This fair land, on... POPE JOHN PAUL II Pervading nationalism imposes its dominion on man today in many different forms and with an aggressi... POPE JOHN PAUL II The historical experience of socialist countries has sadly demonstrated that collectivism does not d... POPE JOHN PAUL II To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the... POPE JOHN PAUL II Young people are threatened... by the evil use of advertising techniques that stimulate the natural ... POPE JOHN PAUL II When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law e... POPE JOHN PAUL II You will reciprocally promise love, loyalty and matrimonial honesty. We only want for you this day t... POPE JOHN PAUL II The future starts today, not tomorrow. POPE JOHN PAUL II The unworthy successor of Peter who desires to benefit from the immeasurable wealth of Christ feels ... POPE JOHN PAUL II Social justice cannot be attained by violence. Violence kills what it intends to create. POPE JOHN PAUL II Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and b... POPE JOHN PAUL II The United Nations organization has proclaimed 1979 as the Year of the Child. Are the children to re... POPE JOHN PAUL II Violence and arms can never resolve the problems of men. POPE JOHN PAUL II Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, ther... POPE JOHN PAUL II There are people and nations, Mother, that I would like to say to you by name. I entrust them to you... POPE JOHN PAUL II I have a sweet tooth for song and music. This is my Polish sin. POPE JOHN PAUL II The scars of others should teach us caution. ST. JEROME They talk like angels but they live like men. ST. JEROME Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not... SAINT AUGUSTINE The most High approveth not the gifts of the wicked. SAINT PATRICK I see that already in this present world I am exalted above measure by the Lord. And I was not worth... SAINT PATRICK He that offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor is as one that sacrificeth the son in the presen... SAINT PATRICK I was freeborn according to the flesh; I am born of a father who was a decurion, but I sold my noble... SAINT PATRICK I have had the good fortune through my God that I should never abandon his people whom I have acquir... SAINT PATRICK The Lord discovered to me a sense of my unbelief that, though late, I should remember my transgressi... SAINT PATRICK Let who will scoff and revile - I will not remain silent; neither will I conceal the signs and wonde... SAINT PATRICK I only seek in my old age to perfect that which I had not before thoroughly learned in my youth, bec... SAINT PATRICK I have a Creator who knew all things, even before they were made - even me, his poor little child. SAINT PATRICK I have vowed to my God to teach the heathen, though I be despised by some. SAINT PATRICK No one should ever say that it was my ignorance if I did or showed forth anything however small acco... SAINT PATRICK The Lord opened the understanding of my unbelieving heart, so that I should recall my sins. SAINT PATRICK It was not any grace in me, but God that put this earnest care into my heart, that I should be one o... SAINT PATRICK Sufficient for me is that honour which is not seen of men but is felt in the heart, as faithful is H... SAINT PATRICK Before I was humiliated I was like a stone that lies in deep mud, and he who is mighty came and in h... SAINT PATRICK I am Patrick, a sinner, most uncultivated and least of all the faithful and despised in the eyes of ... SAINT PATRICK The Lord is greater than all: I have said enough. SAINT PATRICK Among the many signs of a lively faith and hope we have in eternal life, one of the surest is not be... SAINT IGNATIUS I can love a person in this life only insofar as he tries to advance in the praise and service of Go... SAINT IGNATIUS Some indeed have tears naturally, when the higher motion of the soul makes itself felt in the lower,... SAINT IGNATIUS The principal end both of my father and of myself in the conquest of India... has been the propagati... SAINT IGNATIUS We should love the body insofar as it is obedient and helpful to the soul, since the soul, with the ... SAINT IGNATIUS We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierar... SAINT IGNATIUS It is one thing to be eloquent and charming in profane speech, and another when the one speaking as ... SAINT IGNATIUS Remember that bodily exercise, when it is well ordered, as I have said, is also prayer by means of w... SAINT IGNATIUS In the light of the Divine Goodness, it seems to me, though others may think differently, that ingra... SAINT IGNATIUS Occupy yourself in beholding and bewailing your own imperfections rather than contemplating the impe... SAINT IGNATIUS Be generous to the poor orphans and those in need. The man to whom our Lord has been liberal ought n... SAINT IGNATIUS Teach us to give and not to count the cost. SAINT IGNATIUS In the fallen there is danger of pride and vainglory, since they prefer their own judgment to the ju... SAINT IGNATIUS May God our Lord never let me harm anyone when I cannot help him! SAINT IGNATIUS True, I am in love with suffering, but I do not know if I deserve the honor. SAINT IGNATIUS May the perfect grace and eternal love of Christ our Lord be our never-failing protection and help. SAINT IGNATIUS For those who love, nothing is too difficult, especially when it is done for the love of our Lord Je... SAINT IGNATIUS If God has given you the world's goods in abundance, it is to help you gain those of Heaven and ... SAINT IGNATIUS Knowledge is sometimes superfluous: when we need it, we have it not. SAINT BERNARD For every benefit conferred, God is to be praised in his gifts. Otherwise when the time of judgment ... SAINT BERNARD Custom turns everything upside down. Give it time, and what can resist its hardening effect? What do... SAINT BERNARD Charity never lacks what is her own, all that she needs for her own security. Not alone does she hav... SAINT BERNARD I was made a sinner by deriving my being from Adam; I am made just by being washed in the blood of C... SAINT BERNARD The impudence of the sinner displeases God as much as the modesty of the penitent gives him pleasure... SAINT BERNARD A man who prides himself on being better than his fellow-men thinks it a disgrace if he does not do ... SAINT BERNARD Keep to the middle if you wish to keep moderation. The mid way is the safe way. Moderation abides in... SAINT BERNARD Humility is a good estate; founded thereon, the whole spiritual edifice grows into a holy temple in ... SAINT BERNARD That heart alone is hard which does not shudder at itself for not feeling its hardness. SAINT BERNARD There are people who go clad in tunics and have nothing to do with furs, who nevertheless are lackin... SAINT BERNARD You wish me to tell you why and how God should be loved. My answer is that God himself is the reason... SAINT BERNARD I myself, however wretched I may be, have been occasionally privileged to sit at the feet of the Lor... SAINT BERNARD Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you want is not a sceptre, but a... SAINT BERNARD Christian, learn from Christ how you ought to love Christ. Learn a love that is tender, wise, strong... SAINT BERNARD In truth, opinion may be taken for understanding; understanding cannot be taken for opinion. How so?... SAINT BERNARD Sorrow for sin is indeed necessary, but it should not be an endless preoccupation. You must dwell al... SAINT BERNARD God removes the sin of the one who makes humble confession, and thereby the devil loses the sovereig... SAINT BERNARD We seek for truth in ourselves; in our neighbours, and in its essential nature. We find it first in ... SAINT BERNARD I believe though I do not comprehend, and I hold by faith what I cannot grasp with the mind. SAINT BERNARD Among irrational animals the love of the offspring and of the parents for each other is extraordinar... SAINT BASIL The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. With us there is no nice enqu... SAINT BASIL There is nothing unpremeditated, nothing neglected by God. His unsleeping eye beholds all things. SAINT BASIL We glorify the Holy Ghost together with the Father and the Son, from the conviction that He is not s... SAINT BASIL We do not accost a physician as we do any mere nobody; nor a magistrate as we do a private individua... SAINT BASIL Indulging in unrestrained and immoderate laughter is a sign of intemperance, of a want of control ov... SAINT BASIL Strive to attain to the greater virtues, but do not neglect the lesser ones. Do not make light of a ... SAINT BASIL To lovers of the truth, nothing can be put before God and hope in Him. SAINT BASIL Do not despise the fish because they are absolutely unable to speak or to reason, but fear lest you ... SAINT BASIL By nature, men desire the beautiful. SAINT BASIL Every evil is a sickness of soul, but virtue offers the cause of its health. SAINT BASIL
More Rémy de Gourmont
The man of genius may dwell unknown, but one always may recognize the path he has followed into the ... RéMY DE GOURMONT Those men who live with the greatest intensity are often the ones who seem to take least interest in... RéMY DE GOURMONT Demons are like obedient dogs; they come when they are called. RéMY DE GOURMONT Autumn is as joyful and sweet as an untimely end. RéMY DE GOURMONT It was an accident that has endowed man with intelligence. He has made use of it: he invented stupid... RéMY DE GOURMONT To be a member of such a crowd ... is not much to be far removed from solitude; the freedom of every... RéMY DE GOURMONT Tears flow and smiles fade to the same rhythm of life, to disappear together in the bottomless abyss... RéMY DE GOURMONT And there is neither beginning nor end, nor past nor future; there is only a present, at the same ti... RéMY DE GOURMONT The pleasure of being a scoundrel can be adequately savored in silence. RéMY DE GOURMONT Everything, indeed, in a work of art should be unedited,--and even the words, by the manner of group... RéMY DE GOURMONT Of all sexual aberrations, perhaps the most peculiar is chastity. REMY DE GOURMONT Nothing exists except by virtue of a disequilibrium, an injustice. All existence is a theft paid for... REMY DE GOURMONT Women still remember the first kiss after men have forgotten the last. REMY DE GOURMONT The human mind is so complex and things are so tangled up with each other that, to explain a blade o... REMY DE GOURMONT Each man must grant himself the emotions that he needs and the morality that suits him. REMY DE GOURMONT Man is the inventor of stupidity. REMY DE GOURMONT Very simple ideas lie within the reach only of complex minds REMY DE GOURMONT We live less and less, and we learn more and more. Sensibility is surrendering to intelligence. REMY DE GOURMONT The whole effort of a sincere man is to erect his personal impressions into laws. REMY DE GOURMONT Science is the only truth and it is the great lie. It knows nothing, and people think it knows every... REMY DE GOURMONT Simple ideas lie within the reach only of complex minds. REMY DE GOURMONT Of all the sexual aberrations, perhaps the most peculiar is chastity. REMY DE GOURMONT When a man gets up to speak, people listen, then look. When a woman gets up, people look; then, if t... REMY DE GOURMONT Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion. Art is the accom... REMY DE GOURMONT Industry has operated against the artisan in favor of the idler, and also in favor of capital and ag... REMY DE GOURMONT Man associates ideas not according to logic or verifiable exactitude, but according to his pleasure ... REMY DE GOURMONT If the secret of being a bore is to tell all, the secret of pleasing is to say just enough to be --n... REMY DE GOURMONT Thinking is hard work. One can't bear burdens and ideas at the same time. REMY DE GOURMONT Try to put well in practice what you already know. In so doing, you will, in good time, discover the... REMY DE GOURMONT In order to understand life it is not only necessary not to be indifferent to men, but not to be ind... REMY DE GOURMONT The whole effort of a sincere man is to erect his personal impressions into laws REMY DE GOURMONT The terrible thing about the quest for truth is that you find it. REMY DE GOURMONT The woman who loves always smells good REMY DE GOURMONT Two elements are needed to form a truth -- a fact and an abstraction. REMY DE GOURMONT Women still remember the first kiss after men have forgotten the last REMY DE GOURMONT If the secret of being a bore is to tell all, the secret of pleasing is to say just enough to be -no... REMY DE GOURMONT Man has made use of his intelligence, he invented stupidity. REMY DE GOURMONT Art includes everything that stimulates the desire to live. REMY DE GOURMONT Women made us lose paradise, but how frequently we find it again in their arms DE FINOD The more I saw of foreign countries the more I loved my own. DE DELLOY An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate. DE CHATEAUBRIAND Peace is a natural effect of trade. DE MONTESQUIEU If the triangles made a god, they would give him three sides. DE MONTESQUIEU Commerce is the cure for the most destructive prejudices. DE MONTESQUIEU In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also is despotic governments: in the fo... DE MONTESQUIEU There is a French saying: ''Love is the dawn of marriage, and marriage is the sunset of love.'' DE FINOD We would prefer to see a more expedient transfer of properties and the backlog ? being cleared. DE RAUVILLE Hope is the gay skylarking pajamas we wear over yesterday's bruises DE CASSERES There has been softening in share prices after March month end. DE RAUVILLE To remain virtuous a man has only to combat his own desires; a woman must resist her own inclination... DE LATENA Most of those children don't have one-tenth of the opportunity my children had, and I don't think th... DE KNUDSON I am extremely supportive of communities being able to make their own decisions regarding tobacco, a... DE KNUDSON I believe there are many dysfunctional families in our community. I am particularly concerned about ... DE KNUDSON Many of the students want to come back tomorrow. My hope is to introduce history to all of the stude... DE HEARN It was a good education for the students. DE HEARN We wanted the students to recognize and participate in the unique history of Wall. Students should h... DE HEARN All bow to virtue, and then walk away DE FINOD One of the greatest sources of suffering is to have an inborn sense of honor DE CASSERES How intoxicating is the triumph of beauty, and how right it is to name it queen of the universe! Ho... DE SURIN It is completely unacceptable how patients are treated by some of the staff and something has to be ... DE LANGE Indolence is the sleep of the mind.
[Fr., L'indolence est le sommeil des esprits.] LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES It is difficult to esteem a man as highly as he would wish.
[Fr., Il est difficile d'estimer quelq... LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES There is nothing one sees oftener than the ridiculous and
magnificent, such close neighbors that th... BERNARD DE BOVIER DE FONTENELLE Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it inflames the great. ROGER DE RABUTIN DE BUSSY The maxims of men reveal their characters.
[Fr., Les maximes des hommes decelent leur coeur.] LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES Obscurity is the realm of error.
[Fr., L'obscurite est le royaume de l'erreur.] LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.
[Fr., La clarte orne les pensees profondes.] LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES An optimist is a man who plant two acorns and buy a hammock. JEAN DE LATTRE DE TASSIGNY Clearness marks the sincerity of philosophers.
[Fr., La clarte est la bonne foi des philosophes.] LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES The wicked are always surprised to find ability in the good.
[Fr., Les merchants sont toujours sur... LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES Prosperity makes few friends.
[Fr., La proserite fait peu d'amis.] LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of pleasures.
[Fr., Le fruit du travail est le plus d... LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES Clearness ornaments profound thoughts. LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES The conscience of the dying belies their life. LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES It is difficult to esteem a man as highly as he would wish. LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of pleasures. LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it is a proof that it should be rejected. LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES Prosperity makes few friends. LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES The maxims of men reveal their characters. LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES To execute great things, one should live as though one would never die. LUC DE CLAPIER DE VAUVANARGUES Do not hold everything as gold which shines like gold. ALANUS DE INSULUS (ALAIN DE L'ISLE) Who knows but that hereafter some traveller like myself will sit
down upon the banks of the Seine, ... CONSTANTIN FRANCOIS DE CHASSEBEOUF DE VOLNEY When we have not what we love, we must love what we have.
[Fr., Quand on n'a pas ce que l'on aime,... ROGER DE BUSSY-RABUTIN (DE BUSSY) A new maxim is often a brilliant error. CHRETIEN-GUILLAUME DE LAMOIGNON DE MALESHERBES We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible. CHRETIEN-GUILLAUME DE LAMOIGNON DE MALESHERBES The human heart will never wrinkle. MARIE DE RABUTIN-CHANTAL DE SéVIGNé We have access to practical, ethical and scientifically established methods of birth control. So I t... CHRISTIAN DE DUVE Good painting is like good cooking; it can be tasted, but not explained. MAURICE DE VLAMINCK Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning a... MADAME DE STAEL Useless laws weaken the necessary laws. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU Human morality is unthinkable without empathy. FRANS DE WAAL I am personally not against keeping animals at zoos, as they serve a huge educational purpose, but t... FRANS DE WAAL I was named Margaret Yvonne. 'Margaret' because my mother was very fond of one of the deriva... YVONNE DE CARLO I found I had the ability to do comedy. My timing was really inborn. YVONNE DE CARLO I'm from Hollywood; I'm too dumb to be nervous about New York. YVONNE DE CARLO Men, no matter what their promises, rarely leave their spouses... the louses. YVONNE DE CARLO I enjoyed being in 'The Ten Commandments.' That was a great experience - to suddenly become ... YVONNE DE CARLO I guess I lead a double life, and I must admit I'm happy with both. YVONNE DE CARLO After I made my hit in 'Salome,' Universal sent me to New York so I could learn to be a prop... YVONNE DE CARLO The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her... ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE I hope to see the bringing together of all the best educated people of the earth into a worldwide Co... MARQUIS DE CONDORCET If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from ro... THOMAS DE QUINCEY Valor lies just halfway between rashness and cowardice. MIGUEL DE CERVANTES I directed the men in our barque to approach near the savages, and hold their arms in readiness to d... SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN I've always been a geek, so I've always used the Internet, perhaps at first for autopromotio... TATIANA DE ROSNAY When you grew up in France in the 1970s and 80s, the Vel' d'Hiv wasn't part of the histo... TATIANA DE ROSNAY Sometimes I get to see a movie that's adapted from a book that I haven't heard about or that... TATIANA DE ROSNAY I'm a writer. I'm not an actress. TATIANA DE ROSNAY I think books and movies are going to go a long way together in the future. I think we writers are v... TATIANA DE ROSNAY There are two of my favorite books, 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Gone With The Wind', tha... TATIANA DE ROSNAY I'm used to promoting books, but a movie is a very different thing. You have to go to film festi... TATIANA DE ROSNAY It's a complicated process being so bilingual. Sometimes it's a mere word or sentence that c... TATIANA DE ROSNAY Italy has changed. But Rome is Rome. ROBERT DE NIRO Well concerning the world records that I did, I think it helps a lot to me, yeah. I think it's a... INGE DE BRUIJN I always think it's because of you know hard work, hard training. And if Susie's training ha... INGE DE BRUIJN And I mean I never doubt anybody's record. INGE DE BRUIJN I love to smile. INGE DE BRUIJN Ballyhoo is for your classic girl, who is fun and fearless. This is for the girl who is not afraid t... INDIA DE BEAUFORT You're a smaller fish in the U.S. There's just so many more TV shows, and actors, and actres... INDIA DE BEAUFORT I had no interest in being an actress what so ever, and when I was about 14 or 15, I was signed to a... INDIA DE BEAUFORT I'm a big fan of people like Rachel Bilson and Kate Bosworth. I think they're so chic and ha... INDIA DE BEAUFORT My dream evening is wearing my sweatpants, eating something delicious and watching TV with my boyfri... INDIA DE BEAUFORT My style is quite clean, vintage, and almost French in a way. INDIA DE BEAUFORT School was rough for me. I was a good student in middle school, but high school wasn't so fun. I... INDIA DE BEAUFORT Every trend in my high school was terrible! I used to wear my hair in a tight bun and let two long p... INDIA DE BEAUFORT I remember my first actor that I really, really fell in love with was Tom Hanks. I suppose when I wa... IAIN DE CAESTECKER When I was younger, me and my brother got a video camera, and he used to direct and I used to act. W... IAIN DE CAESTECKER Always just remember that you can never know all; you're always going to be learning; there'... IAIN DE CAESTECKER I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU The less men think, the more they talk. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU Liberty is the right to do what the law permits. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name o... CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU I set forth a humble and inglorious life; that does not matter. You can tie up all moral philosophy ... MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE I know well what I am fleeing from but not what I am in search of. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally de... MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE 'Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE My trade and art is to live. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE The beautiful souls are they that are universal, open, and ready for all things. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics, that is my physics. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE If triangles had a god, they would give him three sides. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU If the triangles made a god, they would give him three sides. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU The reason the Romans built their great paved highways was because they had such inconvenient footwe... CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU Luxury ruins republics; poverty, monarchies. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, and th... CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death. CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happines... CHARLES DE MONTESQUIEU I read, I study, I examine, I listen, I think, and out of all that I try to form an idea into which ... MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE Emotions have taught mankind to reason. LUC DE CLAPIERS Everyone is born sincere and die deceivers. LUC DE CLAPIERS Wicked people are always surprised to find ability in those that are good. LUC DE CLAPIERS To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die. LUC DE CLAPIERS Our failings sometimes bind us to one another as closely as could virtue itself. LUC DE CLAPIERS When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected. LUC DE CLAPIERS The maxims of men reveal their characters. LUC DE CLAPIERS Obscurity is the realm of error. LUC DE CLAPIERS The wicked are always surprised to find ability in the good. LUC DE CLAPIERS The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of pleasures. LUC DE CLAPIERS The greatest evil which fortune can inflict on men is to endow them with small talents and great amb... LUC DE CLAPIERS Those who can bear all can dare all. LUC DE CLAPIERS We should expect the best and the worst of mankind, as from the weather. LUC DE CLAPIERS One can not be just if one is not humane. LUC DE CLAPIERS Clearness ornaments profound thoughts. LUC DE CLAPIERS Patience is the art of hoping. LUC DE CLAPIERS All grand thoughts come from the heart. LUC DE CLAPIERS Indolence is the sleep of the mind. LUC DE CLAPIERS One promises much, to avoid giving little. LUC DE CLAPIERS Lazy people are always anxious to be doing something. LUC DE CLAPIERS Great thoughts come from the heart. LUC DE CLAPIERS The things we know best are the things we haven't been taught. LUC DE CLAPIERS The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success. LUC DE CLAPIERS The art of pleasing is the art of deception. LUC DE CLAPIERS The greatest achievement of the human spirit is to live up to one's opportunities and make the m... LUC DE CLAPIERS One is not born a woman, but becomes one. SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about... SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain it... SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat. SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Art is an attempt to integrate evil. SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their ... SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of lov... SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR It is old age, rather than death, that is to be contrasted with life. Old age is life's parody, ... SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Society, being codified by man, decrees that woman is inferior; she can do away with this inferiorit... SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR The universe lies before you on the floor, in the air, in the mysterious bodies of your dancers, in ... AGNES DE MILLE I think I'm well on the way of overcoming a very big hurdle that's been in my way for severa... REBECCA DE MORNAY I would watch anything with Meryl Streep in it. OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND All of Hollywood was convinced that 'Gone with the Wind' would be a colossal disaster and ra... OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND What bothered me was playing one-dimensional parts in films which were really about, 'Boy Meets ... OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND