Quotes from Viper's Tangle

François Mauriac ·  312 pages

Rating: (1.7K votes)


“Πλησιάζεις εύκολα μια ζωντανή ψυχή, και μέσα απ’ το έγκλημα, και μέσα από τα πιο θλιβερά βίτσια, - μα η βλακεία είναι αδιαπέραστη.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle


“Πόσο είναι παράξενο, σ’ αυτές τις αρχές της ζωής που μας δίνεται λίγη ευτυχία, να μη μας προειδοποιεί καμία φωνή: Όσα χρόνια κι αν ζήσεις, δε θα ‘χεις άλλη χαρά στη ζωή σου απ’ αυτές τις λίγες ώρες. Απόλαυσέ τις ως την στερνή σταγόνα τους, γιατί, ύστερ’ απ’ αυτό, δεν υπάρχει τίποτα για σένα. Αυτή η πρώτη πηγή που βρήκες, είναι και η τελευταία. Σβήσε τη δίψα σου μια για πάντα: δε θα ξαναπιείς πια.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle


“I felt at one and the same time quite close, within reach of my hand, and yet an infinite distance away, an unknown world of goodness. Often Isa had said to me: 'You, who see nothing but evil.... You, who see evil everywhere....' It was true, and it was not true.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle


“I remained standing in the middle of the room, swaying on my feet as though I had received a blow. I thought of my life and saw what it had been. No one could swim against such a current of mud. I had been a man so horrible that he could have no friend. But wasn't that, I asked myself, because I had always been incapable of wearing a disguise? If all men went through life with unmasked faces, as I had done for half a century, one might be surprised to find how little difference there was between them. But, in fact, no one lives with his face uncovered, no one. Most men ape greatness or nobility. Though they do not know it, they conform to certain fixed types, literary or other. This the saints know, and they hate and despise themselves because they see themselves with unclouded eyes. I should not have been so universally condemned had I not been so defenseless, so open, and so naked.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle


“Even the genuinely good cannot, unaided, learn to love. To penetrate beyond the absurdities, the vices, and, above all, the stupidities of human creatures, one must possess the secret of a love which the world has now forgotten. Until that secret shall have been discovered, all betterment in conditions of life will be in vain”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle



“Против некоего определённого вида тупости я бессилен.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle


“Время, умелый вор, мало-помалу перетаскивает всё на свете на свой огромный пыльный склад.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle


“Мы никогда не знаем, чего мы в действительности хотим, и вовсе не любим того, что, думается нам, мы любим.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle


“[...] против некоего определенного вида тупости я бессилен. Нетрудно найти путь к живой душе, увидев ее даже сквозь преступления, сквозь самые плачевные пороки, но вульгарность – непреодолимая преграда.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle


About the author

François Mauriac
Born place: in Bordeaux, France
Born date October 11, 1885
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“You give a lot of great advice about what to do. Do you have any advice of what not to do?


Don’t do what you know on a gut level to be the wrong thing to do. Don’t stay when you know you should go or go when you know you should stay. Don’t fight when you should hold steady or hold steady when you should fight. Don’t focus on the short-term fun instead of the long-term fall out. Don’t surrender all your joy for an idea you used to have about yourself that isn’t true anymore. Don’t seek joy at all costs. I know it’s hard to know what to do when you have a conflicting set of emotions and desires, but it’s not as hard as we pretend it is. Saying it’s hard is ultimately a justification to do whatever seems like the easiest thing to do—have the affair, stay at that horrible job, end a friendship over a slight, keep loving someone who treats you terribly. I don’t think there’s a single dumbass thing I’ve done in my adult life that I didn’t know was a dumbass thing to do while I was doing it. Even when I justified it to myself—as I did every damn time—the truest part of me knew I was doing the wrong thing. Always. As the years pass, I’m learning how to better trust my gut and not do the wrong thing, but every so often I get a harsh reminder that I’ve still got work to do.”
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