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One of the traits of genius is not to drag its thought through the rut worn by vulgar minds.

Stendhal

At a distance, we cannot conceive of the authority of a despot who knows all his subjects on sight.
STENDHAL

Authority Distance Sight Subject
One-half, the finest half, of life is hidden from the man who does not love with passion.
STENDHAL

Fine Hide Love Man Passion
Faith, I am no such fool; everyone for himself in this desert of selfishness which is called life.
STENDHAL

Desert Faith Fool Happiness Life
A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.
STENDHAL

Born Degree Hope Love Small
A novel is a mirror which passes over a highway. Sometimes it reflects to your eyes the blue of the skies, at others the churned-up mud of the road.
STENDHAL

Eyes Highway Mirror Novel Reflection Road
The tyranny of public opinion (and what an opinion!) is as fatuous in the small towns of France as it is in the United States of America.
STENDHAL

Opinion Public Small Unity
A man who is half an idiot, but who keeps a sharp lookout and acts prudently all his life, often enjoys the pleasure of triumphing over men of more imagination than he.
STENDHAL

Enjoyment Himself Idiot Imagination Life Man Sharp
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.
STENDHAL

Anxiety Conscious Evidence Family Heart Intimacy Life People Polite Quality
A novel is like a bow, and the violin that produces the sound is the reader’s soul.
STENDHAL

Novel Production Reading Soul Sound Violin
Napoleon was indeed the man sent by God to help the youth of France! Who is to take his place?
STENDHAL

God Help Man Place Youth
The difference breeds hatred.
STENDHAL

Breed Difference Hate One Liner
Politics in a literary work, is like a gun shot in the middle of a concert, something vulgar, and however, something which is impossible to ignore.
STENDHAL

Ignorance Impossible Literature Politics Vulgar Work
Who knows whether it is not true that phosphorus and mind are not the same thing?
STENDHAL

Different Known Mindset True
The great majority of men, especially in France, both desire and possess a fashionable woman, much in the way one might own a fine horse – as a luxury befitting a young man.
STENDHAL

Animal Desire Fashion Greatness Luxury Majority Man Possession Woman Young
On a cold winter morning a cigar fortifies the soul.
STENDHAL

Hard Soul Winter
Life is too short, and the time we waste in yawning never can be regained.
STENDHAL

Life Regain Short Wasted Time

One of the traits of genius is not to drag its thought through the rut worn by vulgar minds.

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One of the traits of genius is not to drag its thought through the rut worn by vulgar minds.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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