11 quotes
Without work, the vessel of human life has no ballast.
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)
The politeness of the upper classes of France, and probably of England, prohibits all energy, and wears it out, if it by chance existed.
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)
I became merry or rather I acquired the art of appearing so.
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)
One day they asked Mme Montcortin what love is, she answered, "It's a nasty, dirty thing, of which chambermaids are sometimes accused, and, when they're convinced, they are chased."
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)
I am deeply convinced that the only antidote that can make the reader forget the eternal Is that the author will write is a perfect sincerity.
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)
Society being divided in strips like bamboo, the great business of a man is to ascend to the class superior to his own, and all the effort of this class is to prevent him from ascending.
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)
He wished me dead. It did not occur to me any more to become angry or to venerate him less than it did to blaspheme against the sun when it's covered by a cloud.
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)
As falling into an impropriety of speech is much more fatal to a young man than it is advantageous to utter a pretty word, posterity, probably less silly, will have no less idea of the insipidity of good company.
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)
I forgot to illustrate this salon. Sir Walter Scott, and his imitators, would have started with that, but for me, I abhor material description. The trouble of making them prevents me from writing novels.
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)
He [the young pianist] had learned to admire such piece, the prime quality was always, in a sound, to be in tune, in a phrase, to be flawless. To my eyes, the prime quality, by quite far, is to be expressive.
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)
Literary men say, "In foreign countries, one can have ingenious thoughts, but one merely knows how to make a book in France." Yes, if the only goal of a book is to make an idea understood, not if it hopes to also make one feel, give some nuance of emotion.
Souvenirs d'égotisme (Memoirs of an Egotist) (1832)