Alphonse Daudet Quotes

Alphonse Daudet was a French novelist. He was the husband of Julia Daudet and father of Edmée Daudet, and writers Léon Daudet and Lucien Daudet. Wikipedia  

✵ 13. May 1840 – 16. December 1897
Alphonse Daudet photo

Works

Tartarin of Tarascon
Tartarin of Tarascon
Alphonse Daudet
Jack
Jack
Alphonse Daudet
Letters From My Windmill
Letters From My Windmill
Alphonse Daudet
In the Land of Pain
In the Land of Pain
Alphonse Daudet
Tartarin sur les Alpes
Alphonse Daudet
Alphonse Daudet: 15   quotes 0   likes

Famous Alphonse Daudet Quotes

“There is no law, in literature, against picking up a rusty weapon; the important thing is to be able to sharpen the blade and to reforge the hilt to fit one's hand.”

Il n'est pas défendu, en littérature, de ramasser une arme rouillée; l'important est de savoir aiguiser la lame et d'en reforger la poignée à la mesure de sa main.
Souvenirs d'un homme de lettres (Paris: C. Marpon et E. Flammarion, 1888) p. 178; George Burnham Ives (trans.) Thirty Years in Paris (Boston: Little, Brown, 1900) p. 134.

“You see, my children, when the corn is ripe it must be cut; when the wine is drawn it must be drunk.”

Voyez-vous, mes enfants, quand le blé est mûr, il faut le couper; quand le vin est tiré, il faut le boire.
Lettres de mon moulin (1869; repr. Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1882) p. 112; John P. Macgregor (trans.) Letters from My Mill (New York: Taplinger, 1967) p. 86.

“The epithet should be the mistress of the substantive, never its lawful wife.”

L'épithète doit être la maîtresse du substantif, jamais sa femme légitime.
Source: Notes sur la vie (published posthumously 1899), P. 3; translation p. 338.

“At fifteen years, twenty at most, one has "come from the press."”

A quinze ans, vingt ans tout au plus, on est déjà achevé d'imprimer.
Source: Notes sur la vie (published posthumously 1899), P. 77; translation p. 369.

“It is clever the way death reaps and gathers its harvests, but what somber harvests. Whole generations do not fall at once; that would be too sad, too visible. But bit by bit. The meadow is attacked on several sides at the same time. One day, one will go; the other, some time after; one must reflect, glance about oneself to notice the empty spaces, the vast contemporary killing.”

Habile façon dont la mort fauche, fait ses coupes, mais seulement des coupes sombres. Les générations ne tombent pas d'un coup; ce serait trop triste, trop visible. Par bribes. Le pré attaqué de plusieurs côtés à la fois. Un jour, l'un; l'autre, quelque temps après; il faut de la réflexion, un regard autour de soi pour se rendre compte du vide fait, de la vaste tuerie contemporaine.
La doulou: (la douleur), 1887-1895 (Paris: Librairie de France, 1930) p. 29; Milton Garver (trans.) Suffering, 1887-1895 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1934) pp. 29-30.

“Children are like men, the experience of others does not help them.”

Les enfants sont comme les hommes, l'expérience d'autrui ne leur sert pas.
Jack: mœurs contemporaines (1876; repr. Paris: E. Dentu, 1877); Laura Ensor (trans.) Jack (London: Dent, 1896) vol. 1, p. 83.

Alphonse Daudet Quotes

“Pain is always new to the sufferer, but loses its originality for those around him.”

Douleur toujours nouvelle pour celui qui souffre et qui se banalise pour l'entourage.
La doulou: (la douleur), 1887-1895 (Paris: Librairie de France, 1930) p. 16; Julian Barnes (ed. and trans.) In the Land of Pain (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002) p. 19.

“Hatred is the anger of the weak.”

La haine, c'est la colère des faibles!
Lettres de mon Moulin (1869; repr. Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1882) p. 19; John P. Macgregor (trans.) Letters from My Mill (New York: Taplinger, 1967) p. 18.

“The man of the Midi does not lie, he deceives himself. He does not always speak the truth but he believes he speaks it.”

L'homme du Midi ne ment pas, il se trompe. Il ne dit pas toujours la vérité, mais il croit la dire.
Source: Tartarin de Tarascon (1872), P. 40; translation p. 17.

“Where would be the merit if heroes were never afraid?”

Où serait le mérite, si les héros n’avaient jamais peur?
Source: Tartarin de Tarascon (1872), P. 204; translation p. 80.

“You will see that the only liar in the Midi, if there is one, is the sun; everything that he touches he exaggerates.”

Le seul menteur du Midi, s'il y en a un, c'est le soleil. Tout ce qu'il touche, il l'exagère!
Source: Tartarin de Tarascon (1872), P. 40; translation p. 17.

“That's fame: just a cigar with the hot end and ash in your mouth.”

C'est ça la gloire. Un bon cigare dans la bouche par le côté du feu et de la cendre.
L'immortel: mœurs parisiennes (1888; repr. Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1890) p. 56; Arthur Woollgar Verrall and Margaret de G. Verrall (trans.) One of the "Forty" (Chicago: Rand, McNally, 1920) p. 50.

“How many men with libraries over which one might write "For external use", as on druggists' labels.”

Que de gens à bibliothèques sur la bibliothèque desquels on pourrait écrire: "Usage externe!"
comme sur les fioles de pharmacie.
Source: Notes sur la vie (published posthumously 1899), P. 8; translation p. 340.

“Distrust the man who smiles before he speaks.”

Méfie-toi de celui qui rit avant de parler!
Tartarin sur les Alpes (1885; repr. New York: H. Holt, 1917) p. 89; Katharine Prescott Wormeley (trans.) Tartarin of Tarascon. To Which is Added Tartarin on the Alps (Boston: Little, Brown, 1900) p. 241.

“Men grow old, but they do not ripen.”

Les hommes vieillissent, mais ne mûrissent pas.
Source: Notes sur la vie (published posthumously 1899), P. 103; translation p. 380.

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