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One hand was needed for power, the other for love: where is the orator that could aspire to grace in such a position?

— Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Les liaisons dangereuses (1782)

Une main occupée pour la force, l'autre pour l'amour, quel orateur pourrait prétendre à la grâce en pareille situation?

Original text (French)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Letter 96: Le Vicomte de Valmont to la Marquise de Merteuil. Trans. P.W.K. Stone (1961).

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Love

More quotes by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Success, which is not always a proof of merit, depends more often on the choice of a subject than on its execution.

Les liaisons dangereuses (1782)

The scoundrel has his good qualities, and the good man his weaknesses.

Les liaisons dangereuses (1782)

Love, like medicine, is only the art of encouraging nature.

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An opportunity missed once will present itself again, whereas a too hasty action can never be recalled.

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I was astonished at the pleasure to be derived from doing good.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.