The first virtue of a young man today – that is, for the next fifty years perhaps, as long as we live in fear, and religion has regained its powers – is to be incapable of enthusiasm and not to have much in the way of brains.
STENDHALI think no woman I have had ever gave me so sweet a moment, or at so light a price, as the moment I owe to a newly heard musical phrase.
More Stendhal Quotes
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Because one has little fear of shocking vanity in Italy, people adopt an intimate tone very quickly and discuss personal things.
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Only great minds can afford a simple style.
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There is no such thing as “natural law”: this expression is nothing but old nonsense… Prior to laws, what is natural is only the strength of the lion, or the need of the creature suffering from hunger or cold, in short, need.
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Beauty is nothing but a promise of happiness.
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Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness.
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When a man leaves his mistress, he runs the risk of being betrayed two or three times daily.
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I see but one rule: to be clear. If I am not clear, all my world crumbles to nothing.
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The difference breeds hatred.
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To describe happiness is to diminish it.
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The sight of anything extremely beautiful, in nature or in art, brings back the memory of what one loves, with the speed of lightning.
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People are less self-conscious in the intimacy of family life and during the anxiety of a great sorrow. The dazzling varnish of an extreme politeness is then less in evidence, and the true qualities of the heart regain their proper proportions.
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The Russians imitate French ways, but always at a distance of fifty years.
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Women prefer emotions to reasoning.
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What is really beautiful must always be true.
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One of the traits of genius is not to drag its thought through the rut worn by vulgar minds.
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