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Beauty is desired in order that it may be befouled; not for its own sake, but for the joy brought by the certainty of profaning it. [Elle est désirée pour la salir. Non pour elle-même, mais pour la joie goûtée dans la certitude de la profaner.]

— Tom Stoppard Misattributed

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More quotes by Tom Stoppard

An artist is the magician put among men to gratify — capriciously — their urge for immortality.

Travesties (1974)

Revolution is a trivial shift in the emphasis of suffering; the capacity for self-indulgence changes hands.

Lord Malquist and Mr Moon (1966)

I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.

An essentially private man who wished his total indifference to public notice to be universally recognized.

Travesties (1974)

It is a defect of God's humour that he directs our hearts everywhere but to those who have a right to them.

Arcadia (1993)

All Tom Stoppard quotes →

Attribution

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