Stendhal: Man

Stendhal was French writer. Explore interesting quotes on man.

Stendhal: 100 quotes35 likes

“Napoleon was indeed the man sent by God to help the youth of France! Who is to take his place?”

Napoléon était bien l'homme envoyé de Dieu pour les jeunes Français! Qui le remplacera?
Vol. I, ch. XVII
Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) (1830)

“A novel is a mirror carried along a high road. At one moment it reflects to your vision the azure skies at another the mire of the puddles at your feet. And the man who carries this mirror in his pack will be accused by you of being immoral! His mirror shews the mire, and you blame the mirror! Rather blame that high road upon which the puddle lies, still more the inspector of roads who allows the water to gather and the puddle to form.”

Stendhal book The Red and the Black

Un roman est un miroir qui se promène sur une grande route. Tantôt il reflète à vos yeux l’azur des cieux, tantôt la fange des bourbiers de la route. Et l’homme qui porte le miroir dans sa hotte sera par vous accusé‚ d’être immoral ! Son miroir montre la fange, et vous accusez le miroir! Accusez bien plutôt le grand chemin où est le bourbier, et plus encore l’inspecteur des routes qui laisse l’eau croupir et le bourbier se former.
Vol. II, ch. XIX
Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) (1830)

“Wounded pride can take a rich young man far who has been surrounded by flatterers since birth.”

Stendhal book The Charterhouse of Parma

La vanité piquée peut mener loin un jeune homme riche et dès le berceau toujours environné de flatteurs.
Source: La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma) (1839), Ch. 13

“When a man leaves his mistress, he runs the risk of being betrayed two or three times daily.”

Stendhal book The Red and the Black

Quitte-t-on sa maîtresse, on risque, hélas! d'être trompé deux ou trois fois par jour.
Vol. I, ch. XII
Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) (1830)

“The great majority of men, especially in France, both desire and possess a fashionable woman, much in the way one might own a fine horse — as a luxury befitting a young man.”

Stendhal

Source: De L'Amour (On Love) (1822), Ch. 1

“Since I am a man, my heart is three or four times less sensitive, because I have three or four times as much power of reason and experience of the world — a thing which you women call hard-heartedness.
As a man, I can take refuge in having mistresses. The more of them I have, and the greater the scandal, the more I acquire reputation and brilliance in society.”

Stendhal

Comme homme, j'ai le cœur 3 ou 4 fois moins sensible, parce que j'ai 3 ou 4 fois plus de raison et d'expérience du monde, ce que vous autres femmes appelez dureté de cœur.Comme homme, j'ai la ressource d'avoir des maîtresses. Plus j'en ai et plus le scandale est grand, plus j'acquiers de réputation et de brillant dans le monde. Letter to his sister Pauline http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Stendhal_-_Correspondance_-_Tome_I (29 August 1804)

“Why does he not know how to select servants? The ordinary procedure of the nineteenth century is that when a powerful and noble personage encounters a man of feeling, he kills, exiles, imprisons or so humiliates him that the other, like a fool, dies of grief.”

Stendhal book The Red and the Black

Que ne sait-il choisir ses gens? La marche ordinaire du XIXe siècle est que, quand un être puissant et noble rencontre un homme de cœur, il le tue, l'exile, l'emprisonne ou l'humilie tellement, que l'autre a la sottise d'en mourir de douleur.
Vol. I, ch. XXIII
Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) (1830)