Honore de
Honore de
exist ideas moral seen society upright
It is not enough to be an upright man, we must be seen to be one; society does not exist on moral ideas only
behind faces society
If we all said people's faces what we say behind one another's backs, society would be impossible.
bed innocence proven single sleep slept songwriter sound
He went to bed and slept the sleep of the good-for-nothing which, by an anachronism not a single songwriter has yet struck, is proven to be more sound than that of innocence
behind fortune french-novelist great
Behind every great fortune there is a crime.
exist glory lifetime longer surgeons talent whose
The glory of surgeons is like that of actors, who exist only in their lifetime and whose talent is no longer appreciable once they have disappeared.
art history humanity religion
All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history, novels, art would be ineffectual.
inspirational men law
To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals - that is what keeps a man patient when the world ignores him, and calm and unspoiled when the world praises him.
suicide wall writing
If the artist does not fling himself, without reflecting, into his work, as Curtis flung himself into the yawning gulf, as the soldier flings himself into the enemy's trenches, and if, once in this crater, he does not work like a miner on whom the walls of his gallery have fallen in; if he contemplates difficulties instead of overcoming them one by one ... he is simply looking on at the suicide of his own talent.
simplicity inspire disrespect
Gentleness in the gait is what simplicity is in the dress. Violent gestures or quick movements inspire involuntary disrespect.
envy mediocrity pity
There are as many mediocrities exalted through pity as masters decried through envy.
yield envy return
How can we explain the perpetuity of envy--a vice which yields no return?
source enjoyment
We are scarcely apt to berate the source of enjoyment.
envy emotion insult
How natural it is to destroy what we cannot possess, to deny what we do not understand, and to insult what we envy!
children effort noble
The election of a deputy to the Legislature offers a noble and majestic spectacle comparable only to the delivery of a child. It involves the same efforts, the same impurities, the same laceration, and the same triumph.