“On ne découvre pas de terre nouvelle sans consentir à perdre de vue, d'abord et longtemps, tout rivage.
(One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.)”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“I prefer granting with a good grace what I know I shan't be able to prevent.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“There's no better cure for the fear of taking after one's father, than not to know who he is.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“Je ne me sens jamais vivre plus intensément que quand je m'échappe à moi-même pour devenir n'importe qui.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“...Gradation; gradation; and then a sudden leap...”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“When I was younger, I used to make resolutions which imagined were virtuous. I was less anxious to be what I was, than to become what I wished to be. Now, I am not far from thinking that in irresolution lies the secret of not growing old.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“C'est dans l'extraordinaire que je me sens le plus naturel.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“In a world in which everyone cheats, it's the honest man who passes for a charlatan.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“For what use is it to forbid what we can't prevent? If books are forbidden, children read them on the sly.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“Each one of a pair of lovers fashions himself to meet the other's requirements—endeavors by a continual effort to resemble that idol of himself which he beholds in the other's heart.... Whoever really loves abandons all sincerity.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“When I was younger, I used to make resolutions, which I imagined were virtuous. I was less anxious to be what I was, than to become what I wished to be. Now, I am not far from thinking that in irresolution lies the secret of not going old.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“One can always find hands for a work of destruction.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“Characters in a novel or a play who act all the way through exactly as one expects them to... This consistency of theirs, which is held up to our admiration, is on the contrary the very thing which makes us recognise that they are artificially composed.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“Those [who] assiduously fabricate for themselves a self-conscious originality, and after having made a choice of certain practices, their principal preoccupation is never to depart from them, to remain for ever on their guard and allow themselves not a moment's relaxation.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“Le style des Faux-Monnayeurs ne doit présenter aucun intérêt de surface, aucune saillie. Tout doit être dit de la manière la plus plate, celle qui fera dire à certains jongleurs : que trouvez-vous à admirer là-dedans ?”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“Dès que Séraphine l'a laissé seul, Gontran se jette à genoux au pied du lit ; il enfonce son front dans les draps, mais ne parvient pas à pleurer ; aucun élan ne soulève son cœur. Ses yeux désespérément restent secs. Alors il se relève. Il regarde ce visage impassible. Il voudrait, en ce moment solennel, éprouver je ne sais quoi de sublime et de rare, écouter une communication de l'au-delà, lancer sa pensée dans des régions éthérées,suprasensibles - mais elle reste accrochée, sa pensée, au ras du sol. Il regarde les mains exsangues du mort, et se demande combien de temps encore les ongles continueront de pousser.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“- Am rămas multă vreme cu pistolul la tâmplă. Eram cu degetul pe trăgaci. Chiar apăsam puţin ; dar nu destul de puternic. Îmi spuneam : "Peste o clipă voi apăsa mai tare şi glonţul va porni." Simţeam răceala metalului şi îmi spuneam "Peste o clipă n-o să mai simt nimic. Dar înainte o să aud un zgomot îngrozitor..." Dă-ţi seama, atât de aproape de ureche !... Şi asta mai cu seamă m-a reţinut : frica de zgomot...
Ceea ce e absurd ; căci din moment ce mori... Da! dar după mine moartea e un fel de somn ; iar o detunăturą nu te adoarme, dimpotrivă, te trezeşte... Da, fără îndoială că de asta-mi era frică. Mi-era teamă că în loc să adorm o să mă trezesc brusc.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
“Je sens en moi, confusément, des aspirations extraordinaires, des sortes de lames de fond, des mouvements, des agitations incompréhensibles, et que je ne veux pas chercher à comprendre, que je ne veux même pas observer, par crainte de les empêcher de se produire.”
― André Gide, quote from The Counterfeiters
André Gide
Born place: in Paris, France
Born date November 22, 1869
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“skipped my meditation because of a headache and Fuji looked somber and lifeless … Today after a couple of hours of good meditation in a chair it’s grand and soaring again. A remarkable discovery: I have the power of life and death over Fuji!…”
― Philip Kapleau, quote from The Three Pillars of Zen
“So beautiful, I forgot how to breathe.”
― Nancy Gideon, quote from Masked by Moonlight
“Children who are resilient often have an appearance of a Teflon coating: nothing seems to faze these children.”
― Asa Don Brown, quote from The Effects of Childhood Trauma on Adult Perception and Worldview
“You speak of giving up my dreams. Have you ever, since Maeve's coven split, had a dream? Have you ever had anything worth dying for?”
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, quote from Snakecharm
“I'm serious,' he said, though aware of how odd it was that he should choose to inform his wife of a personal crisis by comparing it to the experiences of a mystery novel heroine whom he had created. Was the dividing line between life and fiction as hazy for other people as it sometimes was for a writer? And if so... was there a book in that idea?”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Mr. Murder
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The Paris WifeBookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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