André Maurois cytaty

strona 3

„Gdzie jest człowiek, który myśli to, co myśli?”

„Kobiety niczego by nie żądały, gdyby kochano je tak, jak pragną.”

„I kokietka może być zdolna do prawdziwej namiętności. Tylko, że nie w stosunku do tego samego mężczyzny, w tym rzecz.”

„Niesłusznie się mówi, że miłość jest ślepa – prawdą jest, że ma braki lub słabości, które widzi doskonale, miłość jest obojętna, jeśli sądzi, że znajduje w danej istocie to, co jest dla miłości najważniejsze, a co nieraz nie daje się określić.”

„Zwierzenia są jak kobiety: te, których mocno pragniemy uciekają od nas; te, których się obawiamy, narzucają się nam.”

„Podejrzenia założone w umyśle wybuchają jak miny łańcuchowe i niszczą miłość eksplozjami następującymi jedna po drugiej.”

„Nie piękno scenerii tworzy miłość, lecz miłość upiększa pejzaże i miasta.”

„Miłość rozbija okowy samotności.”

„Nawet odwzajemniona miłość jest straszliwa.”

„Miłość pomyślna, czyli taka, gdzie wszystko idzie możliwie, to rzecz trudna, ale miłość gdzie się nie wiedzie – to piekło.”

„Mężczyźni wyginęli. Od biedy można jeszcze znaleźć męża, ale mężczyzna mający czas dla kobiety i pragnący z nią rozmawiać – przestał istnieć.”

„Mężczyźni nie patrzą na suknie. Nie kocha się kobiety dla tego, co ma na sobie.”

„Kobiety lubią, by wiedziały, że są kochane.”

„Mężczyzna ambitny chce błyszczeć poprzez swe dzieła lub co najmniej w związku ze swymi dziełami. Kobieta szuka blasku, który mogłaby odbijać.”

„Nie kocha się kobiety za to, co ona mówi, lecz lubi się to, co ona mówi, ponieważ się ją kocha.”

„Handel jest złym doradcą dyplomatycznym.”

„Prześladowanie podsyca wiarę; tolerancja usypia ją.”

„Pretekst nigdy nie musi być prawdopodobny. Inaczej byłby racją.”

„Artysta podoba się publiczności zarówno dzięki swym dziełom, jak dzięki buntowi przeciw konwenansom.”

„Szczęśliwe małżeństwo – to długa rozmowa, która wciąż wydaje się za krótka.”

„Trup zgadza się być tym, czym jest. Ale tylko trup.”

„Rocznice były zawsze terenem bardzo podatnym do rozpalania namiętności.”

„Należy zawsze ukrywać to, co się czuje, by zachować to, co się kocha.”

„Zapewne życie jest krótkie, ale w stosunku do czego?”

„Z gustami literackimi jest po trosze jak z miłością: zdumiewa nas, co też to inni wybierają.”

„Człowieka zawsze kusi, by rozczulać się nad sobą i odmalowywać siebie takim, jakim by się chciało być.”

„Szczęśliwe małżeństwo to gmach, który odbudowywać trzeba co dzień.”

„W literaturze, podobnie jak w miłości, zdumiewa nas, co wybierają inni.”

„Ludzkość była zawsze podzielona, mniej więcej równo, na optymistów i pesymistów.”

„Wielka miłość nie wystarcza, żeby przywiązać istotę, którą się kocha, jeśli się nie potrafi jednocześnie wypełnić całego życia tamtej bez ustanku odnawianym bogactwem.”

„Łatwiej jest głosić pokój niż go zachować.”

„Wszystko, co zgadza się z naszymi życzeniami, jest prawdą. Wszystko inne doprowadza nas do wściekłości.”

„Miłość łatwiej znosi nieobecność lub śmierć niż zwątpienie lub zdradę.”

„Każde wielkie przeobrażenie społeczne ma swych teoretyków, którzy wymyślają przyczyny stałe dla wyjaśnienia skutków przejściowych.”

„Kiedy się kocha kobietę wszystko, co łączy się z jej obrazem, miłość nasza stroi w zalety i cnoty urojone.”

„Małżeństwo bez konfliktów jest prawie tak samo nie do pomyślenia jak społeczeństwo bez kryzysów.”

„Władza absolutna wywołuje u człowieka rozpętanie najgorszych instynktów.”

„W miłości kto nie pożera, sam jest pożerany, a jednak poddać się, szukać własnego szczęścia w szczęściu kogoś drugiego – to może być wyzwoleniem.”

„Jest coś jeszcze obrzydliwszego niż przekupny sędzia – sędzia żartowniś.”

„W niczym nie grzęźniesz łatwiej niż w powodzeniu.”

„Starzeć się to o tyle groźniejsze! Godzić się ze swoim losem, ze swym stanowiskiem, z tą psią budą wzniesioną nad jedynym przecie życiem… Kiedy jest się młodym, nie wie się, czym jest śmierć…”

„Młodość jest religią, z której prędzej czy później trzeba się w końcu nawrócić.”

„Droga Królewska wiodła już tylko ku szczątkom, jakie po sobie pozostawiają, niczym szkielety, wędrówki ludów i pochody wojsk.”

“It is unprecedented for the men who made a revolution to remain in power after it is over. Yet one still finds revolutionaries: that proves how badly history is taught.”

“An order must first of all be clear. A meditation may be vague, a scheme always has something of the vision in it, but an order must be precise. All order can be misunderstood; an obscure one will never be understood. "To do a thing well," said Napoleon, "one must do to oneself." This is not always true, but the prudent leader will admit that few people understand and that almost everyone forgets. It is therefore not enough to give an order; one must see to its execution and, when giving it, anticipate anything that may nullify its effectiveness. The stupidity of human beings and the malevolence of chance are limitless. The unexpected always happens. The leader who endeavors to frustrate the onset of ill luck and who strengthens the weak points in his schemes against stupidity is more apt to impose his will than one who does not take these measures.”

“British conversation is like a game of cricket or a boxing match; personal allusions are forbidden like hitting below the belt, and anyone who loses his temper is disqualified.”

“A true woman loves a strong man because she knows his weaknesses. She protects as much as she is protected.”

“A married man seeks to please his wife and not God.”

“… Hence, Paul Morand's generalization to the effect that French writers are never younger, never more free from constraint, than when they have passed their sixtieth birthday. By that time they have broken free from the romantic agonies of youth and turned their backs on that pursuit of honors which, in a country where literature plays a social role, absorbs too much of their energies during the years of maturity.”

“"I should not care to be married for my money," said Lucie. "Oh, strange creature!" said the doctor, "you would like to be loved for your face alone, that is to say, for the position in space of the albuminoids and fatty molecules placed there by the working of some Mendelian heredity, but you would dislike to be loved for your fortune, to which you have contributed by your labor and your domestic virtues.”

“The degree of our worthiness to become a free people shall be determined by our ability to respect a lawful leader, to agree to the existence of an opposition, to listen to its arguments, and especially to put the nation's good above all party prejudices and private interest. Liberty is not one of man's inalienable rights' it is a desirable but difficult acquisition, and must be contended for constantly.”

“A great man's manias must be respected, because the time required to combat them is too precious to waste. A departmental head and his chief reach a state of symbiosis; the clever official knows that words must never be spoken in the chief's presence because they stir up painful complexes or rouse his anger. He knows how to present a proposition so that the chief will be interested and give a favorable opinion. He is clearly aware of the latter's mistakes and weaknesses, respects him no less for them, but he does his best to make up for deficiencies.”

“We console ourselves with several friends for not having found one real one.”

“The best way to honor friends who have died is to treat our living ones with equal affection.”

“The life of a couple is lived on the mental level of the more mediocre of the two beings who compose it.”

“There is no permanent equilibrium in human affairs. Faith, wisdom, and art allow one to attain it for a time; then outside influences and the souls' passions destroy it, and one must climb the rock again in he same manner. This vacillation round a fixed point is life, and the certainty that such a point exists is happiness. As the most ardent love, of one analyses its separate moments, is made up of innumerable minute conflicts settled invariably by fidelity, so happiness, if one reduces it to its important elements, is made up of struggles and anguish, and always saved by hope.”

“Must an artist live in the world or out of it? I believe this to be an unanswerable question. Total retirement, natural to the Saint, is injurious to most artists. They work marvelously so long as there are materials at hand. Goethe has further advice: "Solitude is a wonderful thing when one is at peace with oneself and when there is a definite task to be accomplished."”

“The longer the road to love, the keener is the pleasure to be experienced by the sensitive lover.”

“There is little to be said of seniority. It is evident that when men grow older they acquire experience, unless they are completely idle, stupid, or too obstinate to learn anything. But there are many types of old men, and no one has ever maintained that, in order to pick out the best of the, it is enough to look at their birth certificates. Therefore appointments have to be made.”

“Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form.”

“The great classic writers, it will be said, sought rather to proclaim universal truths than to leave their imprint on them.”

“The friendship of two young people," says Goethe somewhere, "is delightful when the girl likes to learn and the boy to teach.”

“Not all men and women can devote themselves to those whom they respect. Some are jealous of superiority and are far more interested in revealing the faults than in imitating the virtues of a noble character. Others fear the option of a mind that is too lucid and prefer to be friends with someone less exacting.”

“Dramatists have always made fun of the friendship between a husband and his wife's lover. But is it so comic? These two men undoubtedly have more to say to one another than the lover and his mistress. They get on perfectly well, and it is often the husband's presence that makes endurable the intolerable boredom of certain affairs of this sort. Cases have been known where a break occurred almost immediately following the husband's withdrawal from the scene.”

“To reason with poorly chosen words is like using a pair of scales with inaccurate weights.”

“It is true that in thus giving his love to fragile beings man becomes more vulnerable. He who passionately loves a woman, children, or his country gives hostages to fortune. He will be tortured from then on, though he be in good health, put down though he be powerful, forced to ask for mercy though he be courageous and hardened to suffering. Fortune has him in her grasp. He is forced to watch with burning anxiety the sickness of those he love tenderly - a suffering far worse than that caused by any malady of his own, because his physical powers are intact. He wants to help, but feels utterly useless. He would like to surrender himself instead of his precious hostages, and sickness - arrogant and tyrannical - chooses its victims relentlessly. In spite of himself he feels like a coward and a traitor, because he has escaped. This is the cruellest of all human torments.”

“The aspiring author, whether genius or not, should never let a day pass without writing at least a few lines.”

“When one is already happy it is important not to lose the virtues which have produced happiness. When they are successful, many men and women forget prudence, moderation, and kindness - qualities which were instrumental in their success. They are arrogant or thoughtless; an excessive self-confidence prevents them from accomplishing difficult tasks, and they soon become unworthy of their good fortune. They are surprised when their luck changes from good to bad. The ancient practice of sacrifice to the gods in return for happiness was a wise one. Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos, threw his precious ring into the sea as a sacrifice, and there are several ways of throwing the ring of Polycrates into the sea. The simplest is to be modest.”

“The truth is that the family, like marriage, is one of those institutions whose very importance renders them complex. Abstract ideas are the only simple ones, because they have little to do with life. The family is not the arbitrary creation of a legislator; it is a natural consequence of the division of the species into two sexes, of the human child's protracted helplessness, of maternal love which ministers to this helplessness, of paternal love which is far more artificial and recent in human history, and composed just as much of love for the mother as of that for the child.”

“"A man's life is happy," says Pascal, "if he begins by being in love and ends by being ambitious." It will be still happier if, after all his ambitions have been satisfied, it ends in tranquility.”

“As the experienced chauffeur can tell by listening to his motor that one of its cylinders is not firing properly, so the born leader knows when his subordinates are not serving him, seeks the cause, and finds it.”

“Happiness flourishes where there is happiness, and love withers quickly in an atmosphere of constraint and gloom.”