“One's ridiculousness increases in proportion as one denies it.”

—  Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, book Les Liaisons dangereuses

Letter 141: La Marquise de Merteuil to le Vicomte de Valmont. Trans. Richard Aldington (1924). http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Les_Liaisons_dangereuses_-_Lettre_141 <br class="br">Les liaisons dangereuses (1782)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "One's ridiculousness increases in proportion as one denies it." by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos?
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos photo
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos16
French novelist, official and army general 1741–1803

Related quotes

Hillel the Elder photo

“One who increases flesh, increases worms; one who increases possessions, increases worry; one who increases wives, increases witchcraft; one who increases maidservants, increases promiscuity; one who increases man-servants, increases thievery; one who increases Torah, increases life; one who increases study, increases wisdom; one who increases counsel, increases understanding; one who increases charity, increases peace.”

Hillel the Elder (-112–9 BC) Mishnah rabbi

2:7
Pirkei Avot

Ernest Hemingway photo

“Fear of death increases in exact proportion to increase in wealth: Hemingstein's Law on the Dynamics of Dying.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Pt. 2, Ch. 7
Papa Hemingway (1966)

Karl Marx photo

“In proportion therefore, as the repulsiveness of the work increases, the wage decreases.”

Karl Marx book The Communist Manifesto

Source: The Communist Manifesto

Ernest Hemingway photo

“Hesitation increases in relation to risk in equal proportion to age.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Pt. 1, Ch. 3
Papa Hemingway (1966)

Claude Bernard photo

“Science increases our power in proportion as it lowers our pride.”

Claude Bernard (1813–1878) French physiologist

Bulletin of New York Academy of Medicine, Vol. IV (1928)

Anthony de Mello photo

“Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one's awareness of one's ignorance.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Wisdom
Source: One Minute Wisdom (1989)

Fulton J. Sheen photo

“Anxiety increases in direct ratio and proportion as man departs from God.”

Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) Catholic bishop and television presenter

Source: Peace of Soul (1949), Ch. 2, p. 19

Patrick Swift photo

“The ethics of art are terrifying because real art by increasing our knowledge of ourselves increases in exactly the same proportion the ethical commitment.”

Patrick Swift (1927–1983) British artist

X magazine (1959-62)
Context: There is a sense, and a very exciting sense, in which art is moral. When Stendhal says a good picture is nothing but a construction in ethics, one recognises a truth about art which opens up vistas that are at the same time liberating and terrifying. The ethics of art are terrifying because real art by increasing our knowledge of ourselves increases in exactly the same proportion the ethical commitment.

Karl Marx photo

“The increase in value of the world of things is directly proportional to the decrease in value of the human world.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Source: Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844/The Communist Manifesto

Sarada Devi photo

“God is one's very own. It is the eternal relationship. He is everyone's own. One realizes Him in proportion to the intensity of one's feeling for Him.”

Sarada Devi (1853–1920) Hindu religious figure, spiritual consort of Ramakrishna

[Swami Tapasyananda, Swami Nikhilananda, Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations, 302]

Related topics