53 quotes
Without passion, man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.
Journal Intime (1882)
Society rests upon conscience and not upon science.
Journal Intime (1882)
To repel one's cross is to make it heavier.
Journal Intime (1882)
Society lives by faith, develops by reason.
Journal Intime (1882)
To learn new habits is everything, for it is to reach the substance of life. Life is but a tissue of habits.
Journal Intime (1882)
The more a man loves, the more he suffers. The sum of possible grief for each soul is in proportion to its degree of perfection.
Journal Intime (1882)
Without faith a man can do nothing. But faith can stifle all science.
Journal Intime (1882)
Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for talent is genius.
Journal Intime (1882)
Never to tire, never to grow cold; to be patient, sympathetic, tender; to look for the budding flower and the opening heart; to hope always; like God, to love always—this is duty.
Journal Intime (1882)
In health there is liberty. Health is the first of all liberties, and happiness gives us the energy which is the basis of health.
Journal Intime (1882)
Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh, be swift to love, make haste to be kind!
Journal Intime (1882)
At bottom there is but one subject of study: the forms and metamorphoses of mind. All other subjects may be reduced to that; all other studies bring us back to this study.
Journal Intime (1882)
Time is but the measure of the difficulty of a conception. Pure thought has scarcely any need of time, since it perceives the two ends of an idea almost at the same moment.
Journal Intime (1882)
Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires but according to our powers.
Journal Intime (1882)
Let us be true: this is the highest maxim of art and of life, the secret of eloquence and of virtue, and of all moral authority.
Journal Intime (1882)
Woman is the salvation or destruction of the family. She carries its destinies in the folds of her mantle.
Journal Intime (1882)
To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius.
Journal Intime (1882)
Heroism is the brilliant triumph of the soul over the flesh — that is to say, over fear: fear of poverty, of suffering, of calumny, of sickness, of isolation, and of death. There is no serious piety without heroism. Heroism is the dazzling and glorious concentration of courage.
Journal Intime (1882)
We must learn to look upon life as an apprenticeship to progressive renunciation, a perpetual diminution in our pretensions, our hopes, our powers, and our liberty.
Journal Intime (1882)
Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.
Journal Intime (1882)