French

Explore 473 quotes originally in French

All that is beautiful and noble is the result of reason and calculation.

Charles Baudelaire

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Topic

Reason Rationalism

Author

Charles Baudelaire

Source

Éloge du maquillage

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1863 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Baudelaire, Charles. "Éloge du maquillage [In Praise of Makeup]." The Painter of Modern Life. Paris: Le Figaro, c. 1863.

Current Citation

Baudelaire, Charles. "The Painter of Modern Life." Baudelaire: Selected Writings on Art and Literature, translated by P. E. Charvet. Penguin Classics, 1993.

Every positive value has its price in negative terms... The genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima.

Pablo Picasso

More information about this quote

Topic

Pros and cons Yin and yang

Speaker

Pablo Picasso

Language

French

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Picasso, Pablo. Quoted in Life with Picasso, written by Francoise Gilot and Carlton Lake. McGraw-Hill, 1964, pt. 2.

What is beautiful is moral, that is all there is to it.

Gustave Flaubert

Letters of Gustave Flaubert

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral theory Morality

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Letters of Gustave Flaubert

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1880 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letter to Guy de Maupassant. 16 Feb. 1880.

Even in those cities which seem to enjoy the blessings of peace, and where the arts flourish, the inhabitants are devoured by envy, cares and anxieties, which are greater plagues than any experienced in a town when it is under siege.

Voltaire

Candide

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Topic

War and peace War Peace

Speaker

Martin

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. 20.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 20.

Property is theft.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Read What is Property? at marxists.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Property rights

Author

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Source

What is Property?

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1840 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph. Qu'est-ce que la propriété? Recherche sur le principe du droit et du gouvernement [What Is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and Government]. Paris: 1840, preface.

Current Citation

Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph. Proudhon: What is Property?, edited and translated by Donald R. Kelley and Bonnie G. Smith. Cambridge University Press, 1994, preface.

The reading of good books is like a conversation with the best men of past centuries-in fact like a prepared conversation, in which they reveal only the best of their thoughts.

René Descartes

Discourse on Method

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Topic

Power of literature Books

Author

René Descartes

Source

Discourse on Method

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1637 1630s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Descartes, René [published anonymously]. Discours de la Méthode: Pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences [Discourse on Method: To Conduct Reason Well, and Seek Truth in the Sciences]. Leiden, 1637, pt. 1.

Current Citation

Descartes, René. Discourse on the Method, translated by Ian Maclean. Oxford University Press, 2008, pt. 1.

Do you believe that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?

Voltaire

Candide

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Topic

Man and war Human nature The human condition

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. 21.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 21.

When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me?

Michel de Montaigne

Essays

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Topic

Cats

Author

Michel de Montaigne

Source

Essays

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1580 1580s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "Apologie de Raimond Sebond [Apology for Raimond Sebond]." Essais [Essays]. Paris: Simon Millanges and Jean Richer, 1580.

Current Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "An Apology for Raymond Sebond." The Complete Essays, edited and translated by M. A. Screech. Penguin Classics, 1993.

He who lives without tobacco is not worthy to live.

Molière

Don Juan

More information about this quote

Topic

Cigarettes Smoking

Speaker

Sganarelle

Author

Molière

Source

Don Juan

Medium

Play

Genre

Comedy (play)

Language

French

Time

1665 1660s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Moliere. Don Juan, ou Le Festin de Pierre [Don Juan or The Feast of Stone]. 15 Feb. 1665, Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris, France, act 1, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Moliere. "Don Juan." The Miser and Other Plays, translated by David Coward and John Wood. Penguin Classics, 2000, act 1, sc. 1.

If I am pressed to say why I loved him, I feel it can only be explained by replying: "Because it was he; because it was me."

Michel de Montaigne

Essays

On his friend Etienne de la Boetie.

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Topic

Friendship Connecting with others

Author

Michel de Montaigne

Source

Of Friendship Essays

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1580 1580s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "De l'Amitie [Of Friendship]." Essais [Essays]. Paris: Simon Millanges and Jean Richer, 1580.

Current Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "On Affectionate Relationships." The Complete Essays, edited and translated by M. A. Screech. Penguin Classics, 1993.

Color is the place where our brain meets the universe.

Paul Cézanne

More information about this quote

Topic

Color Perception

Speaker

Paul Cézanne

Source

Conversations with Cézanne

Medium

Interview

Language

French

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Cézanne, Paul. Cézanne: A Memoir with Conversations, 1897 - 1906. Thames and Hudson, 1991. Originally stated during a conversion with Joachim Gasquet, c. 1906.

Human life begins on the far side of despair.

Jean-Paul Sartre

More information about this quote

Topic

Meaninglessness of life Hopelessness and despair

Speaker

Orestes

Author

Jean-Paul Sartre

Source

The Flies

Medium

Play

Language

French

Time

1943 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Les Mouches [The Flies]. 3 June 1943, Théâtre de la Cité, Paris, France, act 3, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Sartre, Jean-Paul. "The Flies." No Exit and Three Other Plays, translated by Stuart Gilbert. Vintage, 1989, act 3, sc. 2.

When the rich wage war it's the poor who die.

Jean-Paul Sartre

More information about this quote

Topic

War Rich vs. poor

Speaker

Nasti

Author

Jean-Paul Sartre

Source

The Devil and the Good Lord

Medium

Play

Statement Type

Irony

Language

French

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Le Diable et le be Dieu [The Devil and the Good Lord]. Directed by Louis Jouvet. 7 June 1951, Théâtre Antoine, Paris, France.

Current Citation

Sartre, Jean-Paul. "The Devil & the Good Lord." The Devil & the Good Lord and Two Other Plays, translated by Kitty Black. Vintage, 1962.

Refuse to be an accomplice.

Simone Weil

More information about this quote

Topic

Political courage Standing up for what's right Courage Politics

Author

Simone Weil

Source

Journals of Simone Weil

Medium

Personal journal

Statement Type

Orders and commands

Language

French

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Weil, Simone. Personal notebook entry. c 1933.

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.

George Sand

More information about this quote

Topic

Happiness Love Relationships Connecting with others

Author

George Sand

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1862 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Sand, George. Letter to Lina Calamatta. 31 Mar. 1862.

Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world only, our own, we see that world multiply itself and we have at our disposal as many worlds as there are original artists, worlds more different one from the other than those which revolve in infinite space, worlds which, centuries after the extinction of the fire from which their light first emanated, whether it is called Rembrandt or Vermeer, send us still each one its special radiance.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

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Topic

Power of art Art

Author

Marcel Proust

Source

The Past Recaptured In Search of Lost Time

Medium

Novel

Genre

Modernist literature

Language

French

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Le Temps retrouvé [Time Regained]. Paris: Gallimard, 1927.

Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. Finding Time Again, edited and translated by Ian Patterson. Penguin Classics, 2023.

America is a land of wonders, in which everything is in constant motion and every change seems an improvement. The idea of novelty is there indissolubly connected with the idea of amelioration.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy in America

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Topic

America

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Source

Democracy in America

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1835 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. De La Democratie en Amerique [Democracy in America]. Vol. 1, London: Saunders and Otley, 1835, ch. 18, pt. 10.

Current Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II, translated by Henry Reeve. Bantam Classics, 2000, vol. 1, ch. 18, pt. 10.

It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.

Voltaire

More information about this quote

Topic

Virginity Patriarchy

Author

Voltaire

Medium

Personal journal

Language

French

Time

1750 1750s 18th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Voltaire. The Piccini Notebooks. c. 1738-1750.

I am dying of thirst by the side of the fountain.

Charles d'Orléans

More information about this quote

Topic

Thirst

Author

Charles d'Orléans

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Paradox Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

French

Time

1440 1440s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Citation

D'Orleans, Charles. "Je meurs de soif en couste la fontaine [I die of thirst beside the fountain]." Poesies de Charles d'Orleans. c. 1440.

Man, a subject which is marvelously vain, diverse, and like the waves of the sea.

Michel de Montaigne

Essays

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Topic

Nature of man

Author

Michel de Montaigne

Source

That Men by Various Ways Arrive at the Same End Essays

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1580 1580s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "Par Divers Moyens On Arrive a Pareille Fin [That Men by Various Means Arrive at the Same End]." Essais [Essays]. Paris: Simon Millanges and Jean Richer, 1580.

Current Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "We Reach the Same End by Discrepant Means." The Complete Essays, edited and translated by M. A. Screech. Penguin Classics, 1993.