France

Explore 470 quotes by people from France

There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or feign it where it does not.

François de La Rochefoucauld

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Topic

Pretend love Love

Author

François de La Rochefoucauld

Source

Reflections

Medium

Epigram

Language

French

Time

1678 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Reflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims]. c. 1665.

Current Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Collected Maxims and Other Reflections, translated by E. H. and A. M. Blackmore and Francine Giguere. Oxford University Press, 2008.

A hint-don't paint too much direct from nature. Art is an abstraction! Study nature then brood on it and treasure the creation which will result, which is the only way to ascend towards God-to create like our Divine Master.

Paul Gauguin

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of art Art

Author

Paul Gauguin

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Advice

Language

French

Time

1888 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gauguin, Paul. Letter to Emile Schuffenecker. 14 Aug. 1888.

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of trouble and depressing subject matter. An art which might be for every mental worker, be he businessman or writer, like an appeasing influence, like a mental soother, something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue.

Henri Matisse

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of art Art

Speaker

Henri Matisse

Source

Notes d'un Peintre

Medium

Interview

Language

French

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Liberman, Alexander. The Artist in His Studio. The Viking Press, 1960.

A man is not necessarily intelligent because he has plenty of ideas, any more than he is a good general because he has plenty of soldiers.

Nicolas Chamfort

More information about this quote

Topic

Intelligence Ideas

Author

Nicolas Chamfort

Source

Maximes et Pensées

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1796 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chamfort, Nicolas. Maximes et Pensees. c. 1796, no. 29.

Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it.

François de La Rochefoucauld

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Topic

Power of philosophy Philosophy

Author

François de La Rochefoucauld

Source

Reflections

Medium

Epigram

Language

French

Time

1678 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Reflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims]. c. 1665.

Current Citation

La Rochefoucauld, Francois. Collected Maxims and Other Reflections, translated by E. H. and A. M. Blackmore and Francine Giguere. Oxford University Press, 2008.

It is wise to apply the oil of refined politeness to the mechanism of friendship.

Colette

More information about this quote

Topic

Politeness Friendship

Author

Colette

Source

The Pure and the Impure

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

French

Time

1932 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Colette. Le Pur et l'impur and Ces Plaisirs [The Pure and the Impure and These Pleasures]. J. Ferenczi & fils, 1932, ch. 9.

Current Citation

Colette. The Pure and the Impure. NYRB Classics, 2000, ch. 9.

To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

More information about this quote

Topic

Photography

Author

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Source

The Decisive Moment

Language

English

Time

1952 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Cartier-Bresson, Henri. The Decisive Moment. Simon and Schuster, 1952.

Sculpture should walk on the tips of its toes, unostentatious, unpretentious, and light as the spoor of an animal in snow.

Jean Arp

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Topic

Sculpture Art

Speaker

Jean Arp

Source

Arp on Arp: Poems, Essays, Memories

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

German

Time

20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Arp, Jean. Arp on Arp: Poems, Essays, Memories, edited by Marcel Jean. Viking Press, 1972, p. 327.

Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.

Henri Poincaré

More information about this quote

Topic

Science

Author

Henri Poincaré

Source

Science and the Hypothesis

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

French

Time

1901 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Poincare, Henri. La science et l'hypothese [Science and Hypothesis]. Flammarion, 1902, ch. 9.

Current Citation

Poincare, Henri. Science and Hypothesis: The Complete Text, translated by Melanie Frappier, Andrea Smith and David J. Stump, edited by Melanie Frappier and David J. Stump. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, ch. 9.

Man alone consumes and engulfs more flesh than all other animals put together. He is, then, the greatest destroyer, and he is so more by abuse than by necessity.

George Louis Leclerc

More information about this quote

Topic

Human destructiveness Man and animals

Author

George Louis Leclerc

Source

Histoire Naturelle

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

French

Time

1753 1750s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Leclerc, Georges-Louis. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi [Natural History, General and Particular, with a Description of the King's Cabinet]. Paris: Imprimerie royale, c. 1753.