Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881)

Quotes

• All appears to change when we change.

• ...happiness gives us the energy which is the basis of health.

• Hope is only the love of life.

• The man who insists on seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.

• Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not to be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism and doubt.

• For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.

• Nothing is more characteristic of a man than the mann in which he behaves toward fools.

• You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: make use of suffering.

• Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.

• Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family. She carries its destiny in the folds of her mantle.

• Great men are true men, the men in whom nature has succeeded. They are not extraordinary - they are in the true order. It is the other species of men who are not what they ought to be.

• To live we must conquer incessantly, we must have the courage to be happy.

• Analysis kills spontaneity.

• An error is the more dangerous the more truth it contains.

• Truth is the secret of eloquence and of virtue, the basis of moral authority; it is the highest summit of art and life.

• The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms.

• Liberty, equality - bad principles! The only true principle for humanity is justice; and justice to the feeble is protection and kindness.

• Learn to limit yourself, to content yourself with some definite thing, and some definite work; dare to be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not and to believe in your own individuality.

• Charm is the quality in others that makes us more satisfied with ourselves.