France

Explore 470 quotes by people from France

I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?

Voltaire

Candide

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Topic

Love of life

Author

Voltaire

Source

Candide

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

French

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Voltaire. Candide, ou l'Optimisme [Candide: or, All for the Best]. Geneva: Gabriel Cramer, 1759, ch. 12.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 12.

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eyes.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Little Prince

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Topic

What really matters The heart Perception Reason and emotion

Speaker

Fox

Author

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Source

The Little Prince

Language

French

Time

1943 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

De Saint-Exupery, Antoine. Le Petit Prince [The Little Prince]. Reynal & Hitchcock, 1943, ch. 21.

There are no small steps in great affairs.

Jean-Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz

More information about this quote

Topic

Going for it Taking risks

Author

Jean-Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

French

Time

1717 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gondi Paul De, Jean-Francois. Memoires du Cardinal de Retz [The Memoirs of the cardinal de Retz]. c. 1717, bk. 2.

To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory.

Pierre Corneille

Le Cid

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Topic

Winning Taking risks

Speaker

Don Gomes, Le Comte

Author

Pierre Corneille

Source

Le Cid

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragicomedy

Language

French

Time

1636 1630s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Corneille, Pierre. Le Cid. Dec. 1636, Theatre du Marais, Paris, France, act 2, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Corneille, Pierre. "The Cid." The Cid, Cinna, The Theatrical Illusion, translated by John Cairncross. Penguin Classics, 1976.

Time is a great teacher but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.

Hector Berlioz

More information about this quote

Topic

Effects of time Time

Author

Hector Berlioz

Source

Letters of Hector Berlioz

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Irony

Language

French

Time

1856 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Berlioz, Hector. Personal letter. Nov. 1856.

Seeing is forgetting the name of the things one sees.

Paul Valéry

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Topic

Names Perception

Author

Paul Valéry

Medium

Essay

Statement Type

Paradox Zen koan

Language

French

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Valéry, Paul. Quoted in Robert Irwin: A Way to Look at Things by Not Forgetting Their Names, written by Adrian Kohn. c. 1982.

On Earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.

Jules Renard

More information about this quote

Topic

Heaven and earth Heaven

Author

Jules Renard

Source

Journals of Jules Renard

Medium

Personal journal

Language

French

Time

1896 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Renard, Jules. Journal entry. Dec. 1896.

Current Citation

Renard, Jules. The Journal of Jules Renard, edited and translated by Louise Bogan and Elizabeth Roget. Tin House Books, 2017.

Happy is he who, like Ulysses, has made a glorious voyage.

Joachim Du Bellay

Les Regrets

More information about this quote

Topic

Effects of travel Travel

Author

Joachim Du Bellay

Source

Les Regrets

Medium

Poem

Language

French

Time

1558 1550s 16th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Du Bellay, Joachim. "Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage." Les Regrets. Paris: Fédéric Morel, 1558.

Current Citation

Du Bellay, Joachim. "Happy is he who, like Ulysses, has made a fine journey." The Regrets, translated by David R. Slavitt. Northwestern University Press, 2003.

The very touch of the letter was as if you had taken me all into your arms.

Anaïs Nin

More information about this quote

Topic

Letters

Author

Anaïs Nin

Source

Letters of Anaïs Nin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1932 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Nin, Anaïs and Henry Miller. "August 6, 1932." A Literate Passion: Letters of Anaïs Nin & Henry Miller, 1932-1953, edited by Gunther Stuhlmann. Harcourt Brace & Company, 1987.

We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.

Bernard of Chartres

The phrase "standing on the shoulders of giants" is best known from a 1675 letter from Isaac Newton.

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Topic

Scientific progress Progress

Speaker

Bernard of Chartres

Author

John of Salisbury

Language

Latin

Time

1159 1150s 12th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bernard of Chartres. Quoted in The Metalogicon of John of Salisbury, written by John of Salisbury. c. 1159, bk. 3.

To govern is to choose.

Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis

More information about this quote

Topic

Political leadership Politics

Author

Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis

Language

French

Time

1808 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Levis, Pierre Marc Gaston. "Maximes de Politique." Maximes et reflexions sur differents sujets. Paris, 1808, no. 19.

Hope raises no dust.

Paul Eluard

More information about this quote

Topic

Hope

Author

Paul Eluard

Medium

Poem

Language

French

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Eluard, Paul. "Ailleurs, Ici Partout." Poesie ininterrompue. Paris: Gallimard, 1946.

Alcohol is the prince of liquids, and carries the palate to its highest pitch of exaltation.

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

The Physiology of Taste

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Topic

Alcohol

Author

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Source

The Physiology of Taste

Genre

Food writing

Language

French

Time

1825 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Brillat-Savarin, Jean Anthelme. The Physiology of Taste [Physiologie du Goût]. Paris, 1825, meditation 9.

Current Citation

Brillat-Savarin, Jean Anthelme. The Physiology of Taste: Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy, translated by M. F. K. Fisher. Vintage, 2011, meditation 9.

There is nothing in the world which does not have its decisive moment, and the masterpiece of good management is to recognize and grasp this moment.

Jean-Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz

More information about this quote

Topic

Leadership Management Timing

Author

Jean-Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

French

Time

1717 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

De Gondi, Jean-Francois Paul. Memoires. 1717, bk. 2.

The more things change, the more they are the same.

Alphonse Karr

More information about this quote

Topic

Change

Author

Alphonse Karr

Source

Les Guepes

Medium

Magazine

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

French

Time

1849 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Karr, Alphonse. Les Guepes. Au Bureau du Figaro, c. 1849.

Experience shows us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of love Love Relationships

Author

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Source

Wind, Sand and Stars

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

French

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

De Saint-Exupery, Antoine. Terre des hommes [Wind, Sand and Stars]. Gallimard, 1939.

Religious insanity is very common in the United States.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy in America

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Topic

Religion in America America

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Source

Democracy in America

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1840 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. De La Democratie en Amerique [Democracy in America]. Vol. 2, London: Saunders and Otley, 1840, sect. 2, ch. 12.

Current Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II, translated by Henry Reeve. Bantam Classics, 2000, vol. 2, sect. 2, ch. 12.

I will devote myself sincerely and without reservation to the general demolition of my opinions.

René Descartes

Meditations on First Philosophy

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Topic

Questioning one's beliefs

Author

René Descartes

Source

Meditations on First Philosophy

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1641 1640s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Descartes, René. Meditationes de Prima Philosophia, in qua Dei existentia et animæ immortalitas demonstratur [Meditations on First Philosophy, in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated]. Paris, 1641, first meditation.

Current Citation

Descarte, René. "Meditations on First Philosophy." Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, translated by Donald A. Cress. Hackett Publishing, 1999, first meditation.

No human creature can give orders to love.

George Sand

Jacques

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of love

Author

George Sand

Source

Jacques

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1834 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sand, George. Jacques. 1833, ch. 81.

Thus not only does democracy make every man forget his ancestors, but it hides his descendants and separates his contemporaries from him; it throws him back forever upon himself alone and threatens in the end to confine him entirely within the solitude of his own heart.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy in America

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Topic

Downsides of democracy Democracy

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Source

Democracy in America

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1840 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. De La Democratie en Amerique [Democracy in America]. Vol. 2, London: Saunders and Otley, 1840, sect. 2, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II, translated by Henry Reeve. Bantam Classics, 2000, vol. 2, sect. 2, ch. 2.