Quotes by French Authors - Page 140

There is indeed a certain sense of gratification when we do a good deed that gives us inward satisfaction, and a generous pride that accompanies a good conscience…These testimonies of a good conscience are pleasant; and such a natural pleasure is very beneficial to us; it is the only payment that can never fail. “On Repentance
Michel de Montaigne
There's the risk of being loved...and that would keep me from being happy.
Albert Camus
Champagne arrived in flûtes on trays, and we emptied them with gladness in our hearts... for when feasts are laid and classical music is played, where champagne is drunk once the sun has sunk and the season of summer is alive in spicy bloom, and beautiful women fill the room, and are generous with laughter and smiles... these things fill men's hearts with joy and remind one that life’s bounty is not always fleeting but can be captured, and enjoyed. It is in writing about this scene that I relive this night in my soul.
Roman Payne
Do not think that one has to be sad in order to be militant, even though the thing one is fighting is abominable.
Michel Foucault
I like living, breathing better than working...my art is that of living. Each second, each breath is a work which is inscribed nowhere, which is neither visual nor cerebral, it's a sort of constant euphoria.
Marcel Duchamp
We try to fix the outside so much, but our control of the outer world is limited, temporary, and often, illusory.
Matthieu Ricard
We are young, but We already know that in life's great game those who are most unhappy are those who haven't taken the risk to be happy. And I don't want to be one of those
Guillaume Musso
We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one
Voltaire
You are forgiven for your happiness and your successes only if you generously consent to share them.
Albert Camus
A woman laughing is a woman conquered.
Napoléon Bonaparte
Happiness is something you lay siege to, it is a battle like a game of go. I will take hold of all the pain and snuff it out.
Shan Sa
Deep within everyone's heart there always remains a sense of longing for that hour, that summer, that one brief moment of blossoming. For several weeks or months, rarely longer, a beautiful young woman lives outside ordinary life. She is intoxicated. She feels as if she exists beyond time, beyond its laws; she experiences not the monotonous succession of days passing by, but moments of intense, almost desperate happiness.
Irène Némirovsky
I believe that being happy is the only important thing. Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or torturous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive.
Joanne Harris
We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.
François de La Rochefoucauld
I think we go well together. I like being with you because I'm never bored. Even when we're not talking, even when we're not touching, even when we're not in the same room, I'm not bored. I'm never bored. I think it's because I have confidence in you, in your thoughts. Do you understand? I love everything I see in you, and everything I don't see. I know your faults, but as it turns out, I feel as though your faults go well with my qualities. We're not afraid of the same things. Even our inner demons go well together! You, you're worth more than you show...
Anna Gavalda
The pleasure of criticizing takes away from us the pleasure of being moved by some very fine things.
Jean de La Bruyère
Your success and happiness are forgiven you only if you generously consent to share them. But to be happy it is essential not to be too concerned with others. Consequently, there is no escape. Happy and judged, or absolved and wretched.
Albert Camus
No one asked you to be happy. Get to work.
Colette
I spit on your happiness! I spit on your idea of life--that life that must go on, come what may. You are all like dogs that lick everything they smell. You with your promise of a humdrum happiness--provided a person doesn't ask much of life. I want everything of life, I do; and I want it now! I want it total, complete: otherwise I reject it! I will not be moderate. I will not be satisfied with the bit of cake you offer me if I promise to be a good little girl. I want to be sure of everything this very day; sure that everything will be as beautiful as when I was a little girl. If not, I want to die!
Jean Anouilh
The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves—say rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
Victor Hugo
Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it.
Jacques Prévert
Ô, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth.
Roman Payne
Happiness is like those palaces in fairytales whose gates are guarded by dragons: We must fight in order to conquer it.
Alexandre Dumas
A man wants to earn money in order to be happy, and his whole effort and the best of a life are devoted to the earning of that money. Happiness is forgotten; the means are taken for the end.
Albert Camus
For who would dare to assert that eternal happiness can compensate for a single moment's human suffering
Albert Camus
The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star.
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
Gustave Flaubert
It is a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money.
Albert Camus
Joy came always after pain.
Guillaume Apollinaire
Some day you will find out that there is far more happiness in another's happiness than in your own.
Honoré de Balzac
I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.
Albert Schweitzer
Happiness and the absurd are two sons of the same earth. They are inseparable.
Albert Camus
One is happy as a result of one's own efforts once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness: simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience.
George Sand
Sometimes we must undergo hardships, breakups, and narcissistic wounds, which shatter the flattering image that we had of ourselves, in order to discover two truths: that we are not who we thought we were; and that the loss of a cherished pleasure is not necessarily the loss of true happiness and well-being. (109)
Jean-Yves Leloup
The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.
Marcel Pagnol
There are as many styles of beauty as there are visions of happiness.
Stendhal
Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive.
Joanne Harris
What can I do with my happiness? How can I keep it, conceal it, bury it where I may never lose it? I want to kneel as it falls over me like rain, gather it up with lace and silk, and press it over myself again.
Anaïs Nin
I am not proud, but I am happy; and happiness blinds, I think, more than pride.
Alexandre Dumas
All happiness depends on courage and work.
Honoré de Balzac
You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
Albert Camus
Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
Marthe Troly-Curtin
Ingratitude is the soul's enemy... Ingratitude is a burning wind that dries up the source of love, the dew of mercy, the streams of grace.
Bernard of Clairvoux
There is no danger if our prayer is without words or reflection because the good success of prayer depends neither on words nor on study. It depends upon the simple raising of our minds to God, and the more simple and stripped of feeling it is, the surer it is.
St. Jane Francis de Chantal
Lei stesso", Malaussène, "lei stesso"! L'"identità", cos'è questo snobismo? Crede che siamo "noi stessi" intorno a questo tavolo? Essere "se stesso", signore, significa essere il cavallo giusto, al momento giusto, sulla casa giusta della scacchiera giusta! O la regina, o l'alfiere, o l'ultimo dei pedoni!Ma mi sento già rispondere a Julie, con un filo di voce velenosa che, appunto, non è la mia voce:-Ah, sì? Perché io non sono me stesso?
Daniel Pennac
The kingdom of God is peace in the Holy Spirit; He will reign in you if your heart is at peace. So, be at peace, Mademoiselle, and you will honor in a sovereign way the God of peace and love.
St. Vincent de Paul
Laissez faire laissez passer.
François Quesnay
Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity.
St. Vincent de Paul
I am God, says Love, for Love is God and God is Love, and this Soul is God by the condition of Love. I am God by divine nature and this Soul is God by the condition of Love. Thus this precious beloved of mine is taught and guided by me, without herself, for she is transformed into me, and such a perfect one, says Love, takes my nourishment.
Margueruite Porete
Go to the poor: you will find God.
St. Vincent de Paul
A life full of excuses is a life full of regrets
Thibaut Meurisse
It's what you do every day that counts. Eating seven apples on Sunday won't keep the doctor away!
Thibaut Meurisse
Speak gently but look out for your rights.
Christine de Pizan
Love is not about staring at each other, but staring off in the same direction.
Antoine De Saint Exupery
Freedom is in the Now
Arnaud Saint-Paul
Do not wait for life. Do not long for it. Be aware, always and at every moment, that the miracle is in the here and now.
Marcel Proust
Le souvenir n'est qu'un regard posé de temps en temps sur des êtres devenus intérieurs,mais qui ne dépendent pas de la mémoire pour continuer d'exister.
Marguerite Yourcenar
As for methods of prayer, all are good, as long as they are sincere.
Victor Hugo
I am convinced that one should tell one's spiritual director if one has a great desire for Communion, for Our Lord does not come from Heaven every day to stay in a golden ciborium; He comes to find another heaven, the heaven of our soul in which He loves to dwell.
Thérèse de Lisieux
One discovers that destiny can be diverted, that one does not have to remain in bondage to the first wax imprint made on childhood sensibilities. Once the deforming mirror has been smashed, there is a possibility of wholeness. There is a possibility of joy.
Anaïs Nin