Quotes from book
Mademoiselle de Maupin

Name: Mademoiselle de Maupin
Author: Théophile Gautier

Théophile GautierOriginal title Mademoiselle de Maupin (French, 1835)

“What well-bred woman would refuse her heart to a man who had just saved her life? Not one; and gratitude is a short cut which speedily leads to love.”

Théophile Gautier book Mademoiselle de Maupin

Source: Mademoiselle de Maupin

“Virginity, mysticism, melancholy, – three unknown words, – three new maladies brought in by Christ.”

Théophile Gautier book Mademoiselle de Maupin

Virginité, mysticisme, mélancolie, – trois mots inconnus, – trois maladies nouvelles apportées par le Christ.
Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835; Paris: Charpentier, 1866), ch. 9, p. 198; Mademoiselle de Maupin; and, One of Cleopatra's Nights (New York: Random House, 1948) p. 136.

“There is nothing truly beautiful but that which can never be of any use whatsoever; everything useful is ugly.”

Théophile Gautier book Mademoiselle de Maupin

Il n'y a de vraiment beau que ce qui ne peut servir à rien; tout ce qui est utile est laid.
Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835; Paris: Charpentier, 1866), Préface, p. 21; Burton Rascoe (trans.) Mademoiselle de Maupin, and One of Cleopatra's Nights (New York: A. A. Knopf, 1925) p. xxv.