French

Explore 473 quotes originally in French

To please women you either have to be carefree and play the fool or else be tragic and passionate. When you say to them quite simply that you love them, women laugh at you.

Gustave Flaubert

Sentimental Education

More information about this quote

Topic

Men and women

Speaker

Frederic Moreau

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Sentimental Education

Medium

Novel

Language

French

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. L'Education sentimentale [Sentimental Education]. Paris: Michel Levy, 1869, pt. 3, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Sentimental Education, translated by Patrick Coleman and Helen Constantine. Oxford University Press, 2016, pt. 3, ch. 3.

With the present system of education for girls any genius who happens to be born a woman can make no contribution to public happiness.

Stendhal

More information about this quote

Topic

Education of girls Oppression of women Human capital

Author

Stendhal

Source

On Love

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1822 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Stendhal. De L'Amour [On Love]. Paris: Pierre Mongie, 1822, ch. 56.

Current Citation

Stendhal. Love, translated by Gilbert Sale and Suzanne Sale. Penguin Classics, 1975, ch. 56.

The more one gets to know of men, the more one values dogs.

Alphonse Toussenel

More information about this quote

Topic

Man and animals Nature of men Misanthropy

Author

Alphonse Toussenel

Language

French

Time

1847 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

De Toussenel, Alphonse. L'Esprit des betes. Paris: Librairie societaire, 1847.

God is dead! Heaven is empty-Weep, children,
You no longer have a father.

Gerard de Nerval

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of religion

Author

Gerard de Nerval

Source

Le Christ aux Oliviers Les Chimeres

Medium

Poem

Language

French

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

De Nerval, Gerard. "Le Christ aux Oliviers." L'Artiste, 31 Mar. 1844.

Current Citation

De Nerval, Gerard. "Le Christ aux Oliviers." De Nerval: Selected Writings, translated by Richard Sieburth. Penguin Classics, 1999.

Draw lines, young man, many lines, from memory or from nature; it is in this way that you will become a good artist.

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

More information about this quote

Topic

Artistic development Practice Art

Speaker

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Source

Degas

Statement Type

Advice

Language

French

Time

1855 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominque. Quoted in Degas, written by Keith Roberts. Phaidon Press, 1982, p. 7.

Light is a delicate thing.

Georges Braque

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of light Light Art

Speaker

Georges Braque

Source

The Artist in His Studio

Medium

Interview

Language

French

Time

20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Liberman, Alexander. The Artist in His Studio. Viking Press, 1960, ch. 3.

The French Revolution operated in reference to this world in exactly the same manner as religious revolutions acted in view of the other world. It considered the citizen as an abstract proposition apart from any particular society, in the same way as religions considered man as man, independent of country and time.

Alexis de Tocqueville

The Ancien Regime and the Revolution

Buy The Ancien Regime and the Revolution at Amazon Buy The Ancien Regime and the Revolution at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

French Revolution

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Source

The Ancien Regime and the Revolution

Genre

Historical literature Political literature

Language

French

Time

1856 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution [The Ancien Régime and the Revolution]. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1856, pt. 1, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. The Ancien Regime and the Revolution, translated by Gerald Bevan. Penguin Classics, 2008, pt. 1, ch. 3.

Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition... The housewife wears herself out marking time: she makes nothing, simply perpetuates the present.

Simone de Beauvoir

The Second Sex

Buy The Second Sex at Amazon Buy The Second Sex at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Housework and homemaking

Author

Simone de Beauvoir

Source

The Second Sex

Genre

Historical literature Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1949 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

De Beauvoir, Simone. Le Deuxième Sexe [The Second Sex]. Vol. 2, Gallimard, 1949.

Current Citation

De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex, translated by Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier. Vintage, 2011.

Politics, and the fate of mankind, are shaped by men without ideals and without greatness.

Albert Camus

More information about this quote

Topic

Venality of politicians Politicians Politics

Author

Albert Camus

Source

Journals of Albert Camus

Medium

Personal journal

Language

French

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Camus, Albert. Notebook entry. c. 1940.

One of the meanings of human existence, the source of human freedom, is never to accept anything as definitive, untouchable, obvious, or immobile.

Michel Foucault

More information about this quote

Topic

Dogma Doubt and skepticism Freedom

Speaker

Michel Foucault

Source

Power, Moral Values and the Intellectual History of the Present

Medium

Interview

Language

French

Time

1980 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Foucault, Michel. "Power, Moral Values, and the Intellectual." Interviewed and translated by Michael Bess. History of the Present, Spring 1988.

In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.

Montesquieu

More information about this quote

Topic

Success Persistence

Author

Montesquieu

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1755 1750s 18th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Montesquieu. Pensees et fragments inedits De Montesquieu [Thoughts and Unpublished Fragments of Montesquieu]. G. Gounouilhou, 1901.

The more foreigners I saw, the more I loved my homeland.

Pierre-Laurent Buirette de Belloy

More information about this quote

Topic

Foreigners Xenophobia Patriotism

Author

Pierre-Laurent Buirette de Belloy

Source

Le Siège de Calais

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragic play

Language

French

Time

1765 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Belloy, Pierre-Laurent Buirette de. Le Siège de Calais. 1765, Comédie‐Française, Paris, France, act 2, sc. 3.

A hundred times I have thought: New York is a catastrophe, and fifty times: it is a beautiful catastrophe.

Le Corbusier

More information about this quote

Topic

New York City

Author

Le Corbusier

Source

When the Cathedrals Were White

Genre

Historical literature

Language

French

Time

1937 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Corbusier, Le. Quand Les Cathedrales Etaient Blanches [When the Cathedrals Were White]. Librairie Plon, 1937.

Current Citation

Corbusier, Le. When the Cathedrals Were White. McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1964.

I would rather believe that God did not exist than believe that He was indifferent.

George Sand

More information about this quote

Topic

Existence of God Nature of God

Author

George Sand

Language

French

Time

1896 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sand, George. Impressions et Souvenirs [Impressions and Remembrances]. Paris: Michel Lévy, 1873, ch. 8.

The artist must be in his work as God is in creation, invisible and all-powerful; one must sense him everywhere but never see him.

Gustave Flaubert

More information about this quote

Topic

Artists

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Letters of Gustave Flaubert

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1857 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letter to Madamoiselle Leroyer de Chantepie. 18 Mar. 1857.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. The Letters of Gustave Flaubert 1830-1857, translated and edited by Francis Steegmuller. Faber and Faber, 1981.

Oh, what a day-to-day business life is.

Jules Laforgue

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of life Spending time Passage of time Life

Author

Jules Laforgue

Source

Les Complaintes

Medium

Poem

Language

French

Time

1885 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Laforgue, Jules. "Complainte sur certains ennuis." Les Complaintes. Paris: Léon Vanier, 1885.

Every country has the government it deserves.

Joseph de Maistre

More information about this quote

Topic

Government Political culture Political theory

Author

Joseph de Maistre

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1811 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Maistre, Joseph De. Lettres et Opuscules Inédits de Leibniz. Paris: Lagrange, 1854, letter 76. Originally a letter about Russia's new constitutional laws, 27 Aug. 1811.

I have seized the light. I have arrested its flight!

Louis Daguerre

More information about this quote

Topic

Light Photography

Speaker

Louis Daguerre

Source

A History and Handbook of Photography

Language

French

Time

1825 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tissandier, Gaston. A History and Handbook of Photography, edited by John Thomson, Sampson, Low, Marston, Low & Searle, 1876, p. 24.

If you want something done right, do it yourself.

Charles-Guillaume Etienne

More information about this quote

Topic

Self-reliance Perfectionism

Speaker

Palaprat

Author

Charles-Guillaume Etienne

Source

Bruis et Palaprat

Medium

Play

Language

French

Time

1807 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Étienne, Charles-Guillaume. Bruïs et Palaprat. 1807, Théâtre-Français, Paris, France, sc. 3.

The utmost renown never slakes a man's appetite and, unless he is a fool, he almost always dies uncertain of his own fame.

Gustave Flaubert

More information about this quote

Topic

Appetite for fame Self-doubt Fame Human nature

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Letters of Gustave Flaubert

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1852 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letter to Maxime Du Camp. 26 June 1852.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letters of Gustave Flaubert, edited by Richard Rumbold, translated by J. M. Cohen. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1950.