Marguerite Yourcenar Quotes
A being afire with life cannot foresee death; in fact, by each of his deeds he denies that death exi...
Show MoreTout bonheur est un chef-d'oeuvre: la moindre erreur le fausse, la moindre hésitation l'altère, la m...
Show MoreIt is not by blood, anyhow, that man's true continuity is established: Alexander's direct heir is Ca...
Show MoreA part of every life, even a life meriting very little regard, is spent in searching out the reasons...
Show MoreAll forms of dire poverty and brutality were things to forbid as insults to the fair body of mankind...
Show MoreAt that period I paid as constant attention to the greater securing of my happiness, to enjoying and...
Show MoreBut other hordes would come, and other false prophets. Our feeble efforts to ameliorate man’s lot wo...
Show MoreThis city belongs to ghosts, to murderers, to sleepwalkers. Where are you, in what bed, in what drea...
Show MoreChabrias, ever preoccupied to offer the gods the worship due them, was disturbed by the progress of ...
Show MoreI lent only half an ear to those well-intentioned folk who say that happiness is enervating, liberty...
Show MoreAny law too often subject to infraction is bad; it is the duty of the legislator to repeal or to cha...
Show MoreA young musician plays scales in his room and only bores his family. A beginning writer, on the othe...
Show MoreThe true birthplace is that wherein for the first time one looks intelligently upon oneself; my firs...
Show MoreLe souvenir n'est qu'un regard posé de temps en temps sur des êtres devenus intérieurs,mais qui ne d...
Show MoreLeaving behind books is even more beautiful — there are far too many children.
He had come to that time in his life (it varies for every man) when a human being gives himself over...
Show MoreLaws change more slowly than custom, and though dangerous when they fall behind the times are more d...
Show MoreIt displeases me to have some creature think that he can foresee and profit from my desire, automati...
Show MoreI was willing to yield to nostalgia, that melancholy residue of desire.
Overhead shone the great star of the constellation of Lyra, destined to be the polar star for men wh...
Show MoreOf all our games, love's play is the only one which threatens to unsettle the soul...
Of all our games, love's play is the only one which threatens to unsettle the soul, and is also the ...
Show MoreAttianus had been right in his conjectures: the virgin gold of respect would be too soft without som...
Show MoreWe lose track of everything, and of everyone, even ourselves. The facts of my father's life are less...
Show MoreMore sensitive to Rome's prejudices than I was aware, I recalled that although they grant sensuality...
Show MoreI was glad that our venerable, almost formless religions, drained of all intransigence and purged of...
Show MoreAny truth creates a scandal.
Happiness is a masterpiece: the slightest error compromises it, the slightest hesitation undermines ...
Show MoreWe say: mad with joy. We should say: wise with grief.
