André Maurois: Trending quotes

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André Maurois: 404 quotes4 likes

“Experience is valuable only when it has brought suffering and when the suffering has left its mark upon both body and mind. Sleepless nights and conflicts with reality make statesmen realists; how could these experiences be usefully handed on to young idealists who expect to transform the universe without effort? The counsels of Polonius are platitudes, but the moment we start giving advice we are all like Polonius. For us those platitudes are packed with meaning, memories, and visions. For our children, they are abstract and boring. We should like to make a wise woman of a girl of twenty; it is physiologically impossible. "The counsels of old age," said Vauvenargues, "are like a winter's sun which gives light but no warmth."”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Family Life

“For intelligent people, action often means escape from thought, but it is a reasonable and a wise escape.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Happiness

“Old age diminishes our strength; it takes away our pleasures one after the other; it withers the soul as well as the body; it renders adventure and friendship difficult; and finally it is shadowed by thoughts of death.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Growing Old

“A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short.”

“The reading of a fine book is an uninterrupted dialogue in which the book speaks and our soul replies.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Friendship

“A man's power and intelligence are limited. He who wants to do everything will never do anything.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Working
Context: A man's power and intelligence are limited. He who wants to do everything will never do anything. Only too well do we know those people of uncertain ability who say: "I could be a great musician."..."Business would be easy for me."..."I could surely make success in politics." We may be certain that they will always be amateur musicians, failures in business, and beaten politicians. Napoleon held that the art of war consisted of making oneself strongest at a certain point; in life we must choose a point of attack and concentrate our forces there. The choice of a career must not be left to chance.

“Either the soul is immortal and we shall not die, or it perishes with the flesh and we shall not know that we are dead. Live, then, as if you were eternal”

Quoted by Will Durant in On the Meaning of Life http://books.google.com/books?id=XH5HAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Either+the+soul+is+immortal+and+we+shall+not+die+or+it+perishes+with+the+flesh+and+we+shall+not+know+that+we+are+dead+Live+then+as+if+you+were+eternal%22&pg=PA53#v=onepage (1932) <br class="br">Context: What shall we know of our death? Either the soul is immortal and we shall not die, or it perishes with the flesh and we shall not know that we are dead. Live, then, as if you were eternal, and do not believe that your life has changed merely because it seems proved that the Earth is empty. You do not live in the Earth, you live in yourself.

“In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.”

“Conversation would be vastly improved by the constant use of four simple words: I do not know.”

“The reputation of a Don Juan gives to a man the most dangerous power. Wise virgins resist it, but foolish virgins frequently yield to the desire to take a celebrated lover from a rival - even from a friend. This emotion is a complex one, mad up of vanity, respect for another woman's taste, and the need to establish self-assurance by winning a difficult victory. Don Juan chose his first mistresses; later he was chosen. Byron said that he had been raped oftener than anyone since the Trojan War.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Loving

“Does absolute reliance carry with it a complete exchange of confidences? I believe that true friendship cannot exist otherwise.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Friendship

“Great things are not accomplished with physical strength and agility," says Cicero, "but through consultation, authority, and the mature wisdom which old age, far from lacking, is endowed with abundantly.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Growing Old

“If I had to preach a sermon on the family I would take for my text this phrase of Paul Valery's: "In every family there is concealed a specific interior boredom which causes its members to escape and live their own lives. There is also in every family an ancient and powerful force which manifests itself when the group is gathered in the dining-room for its evening meal, when its members feel free to be completely themselves.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Family Life

“Everything that is in agreement with our personal desires seems true; everything that is not puts us in a rage.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Friendship

“Among the idle rich, boredom is one of the most common causes of unhappiness. People who have difficulty in earning their living may suffer greatly, but they are not bored. Wealthy men and women become bored when they depend upon the theater for their enjoyment instead of making their own lives interesting.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Happiness

“After 1930, political theorists had begun to realize that every democracy—being a government of public opinion—is largely in the hands of those who make public opinion—that is to say, the newspaper-owners. In every country the big business men, the great financiers, were being compelled to purchase the influential newspapers and had little by little succeeded in doing so. They had been very clever in respecting the the external forms of democracy. The people continued to elect their deputies, who continued to to go through the forms of choosing ministers and presidents; but the ministers, presidents, and deputies could hold on to their positions only so long as they did what the Masters of Public Opinion told them to do; and, being well aware of this fact, they were duly submissive.”

The Next Chapter: The War Against the Moon (1928)

“We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity - romantic love and gunpowder.”

Les silences du colonel Bramble (The Silence of Colonel Bramble)

“It is often said that in prosperity we have many friends, but that we are usually neglected when things go badly. I disagree. Not only do malicious people flock about us in order to witness our ruin, but other unfortunates as well, who have been kept away by our happiness, and now feel close to us on account of our troubles. When Shelley was poor and unknown, he had more friends than the triumphant Lord Byron. It takes great nobility of soul to be able, without any taint of self-interest, to be friends with fortunate people.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Friendship

“An unsatisfied woman requires luxury, but a woman who is in love with a man will lie on a board.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Happiness

“Almost all of our fellow-beings deceive us, but a few of us have known the joy of meeting a woman or a man whose sincerity and frankness were genuine, who in almost every situation has behaved according to our wishes, and who in our most difficult moments has not forsaken us. Those few are familiar with that marvelous feeling: confidence. With at least one person they are able for a little while each day to lift the heavy visor of their helmets, breathe freely, and show their faces and their hearts without fear.”

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Loving