Andr� Gide

France
22 Nov 1869 // 19 Feb 1951
Writer

Quotes

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Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change
What would there be in a story of happiness? Only what prepares it, only what destroys it can be told
What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; what another would have written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself - and thus make yourself indispensable
To what a degree the same past can leave different marks - and especially admit of different interpretations
To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company
Through loyalty to the past, our mind refuses to realize that tomorrow's joy is possible only if today's makes way for it; that each wave owes the beauty of its line only to the withdrawal of the preceding one
�Therefore� is a word the poet must not know
There is no prejudice that the work of art does not finally overcome
There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them
The want of logic annoys. Too much logic bores. Life eludes logic, and everything that logic alone constructs remains artificial and forced
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays