Andre Maurois Quotes

A great man's manias must be respected, because the time required to combat them is too precious to waste.

There are deserts in every life, and the desert must be depicted if we are to give a fair and complete idea of the country.

Happiness is never there to stay [...] Happiness is merely a respite offered by inquietude.

The greedy search for money or success will almost always lead men into unhappiness. Why? Because that kind of life makes them depend upon things outside themselves.

Live as if you were eternal.

There are very few really brilliant men who have not had at least one madman among their ancestors.

Information is not culture. In the mind of a truly educated person, facts are organized, and they make up a living world in the image of the world of reality.

To reason with poorly chosen words is like using a pair of scales with inaccurate weights.

The art of growing old is the art of being regarded by the oncoming generations as a support and not as a stumbling-block...

Only passions can raise a man above the level of the animal.

Either the soul is immortal and we shall not die, or it perishes with the flesh and we shall not know that we are dead. Live, then, as if you were eternal.

When you become used to never being alone, you may consider yourself Americanised

He who wants to do everything will never do anything.

Few are they who have never had a chance to achieve happiness- and fewer those who have taken that chance.

It is better to teach a few things perfectly than many things indifferently...

Lost Illusion is the undisclosed title of every novel.

Advice is always a confession.

Our minds have unbelievable power over our bodies.

A gentleman is never in a hurry.

Time is a factor in all action. An imperfect scheme put into action at the proper time is better than a perfect one accomplished too late.

Novelty, the most potent of all attractions, is also the most perishable.

Everything that is in agreement with our personal desires seems true; everything that is not puts us in a rage.

Genius consists of equal parts of natural aptitude and hard work.

The longer the road to love, the keener is the pleasure...

An unsatisfied woman requires luxury, but a woman who is in love with a man will lie on a board.

Inspiration in matters of taste will not come twice.

The really great novel tends to be the exact negative of its author's life.

People are discontent; men are troubled; and the literature is excellent.

Love born of anxiety resembles a thorn shaped so that efforts to pull it out of one's flesh merely cause it to penetrate more deeply therein.

For intelligent people, action often means escape from thought, but it is a reasonable and a wise escape.

The clear and simple words of common usage are always better than those of erudition. The jargon of the philosophers not seldom conceals an absence of thought.

Happiness flourishes where there is happiness...

We don't go to school to learn, but to be soaked in the prejudices of our class, without which we should be useless and unhappy.

It is restful to leave one's home; not because traveling does not entail varied and difficult daily actions, but because it removes our responsibilities.

Two human beings anchored to one another are like two ships shaken by waves; their carcases collide with one another and creak.

In a discussion, the difficulty lies, not in being able to defend your opinion, but to know it.

The minds of different generations are as impenetrable one by the other as are the monads of Leibniz.

A great statesman, like a good housekeeper, knows that cleaning has to be done every morning.

Marriage makes a man more vulnerable by doubling the expanse of sail exposed to the tempests of social life.

[...] marriage is one thing, and love is another...You need to have a solid canvas; nobody stops you to weave the arabesques.

A great writer has a high respect for values. His essential function is to raise life to the dignity of thought, and this he does by giving it a shape.

What men call friendship is only social intercourse, an exchange of favours and good offices; it comes down to a commercial dealing in which self-esteem always expects to profit.

I knew a man who had been virtually drowned and then revived. He said that his death had not been painful.

Artificial inflation of stocks must be considered a crime as serious as counterfeiting, which it closely resembles.

Medicine is a very old joke, but it still goes on.

Housekeeping in common is for women the acid test.

The need to express one's self in writing springs from a maladjustment of life, or from an inner conflict which the adolescent (or the grown man) cannot resolve in action.

The effectiveness of work increases according to geometrical progression if there are no interruptions.

Few are they who have never had the chance to achieve happiness ... and fewer those who have taken that chance.

The first recipe for happiness is: Avoid too lengthy meditations on the past.