Natalie Clifford Barney Quotes

It's necessary to use suffering. Otherwise, one is used by it.

... anything difficult to say must be shouted from the rooftops.

We know all their gods; they ignore ours. What they call our sins are our gods, and what they call their gods, we name otherwise.

Le pire n'est pas que l'on se brûle, mais que le feu s'éteint.

I am beginning to have a healthy dread of possessions, be it of a country, a house, a being or even an idea. If we are bothered by possessions we cannot really live either from without or from within; we are the possession of our possessions. All wars and most loves come from the possessive instinct. Why grab possessions like thieves, or divide them like socialists when you can ignore them like wise men: that you may belong to everything and everything be yours inclusive of yourself. Could we, and we can, have the vital necessities for all, we should do away with this cry of class and begin to differentiate between individuals. Individual superiority can alone feed the soul and give back through some materialisation of itself this individualised wealth of being.

Les générosites en amour se payent cher.

Bientôt ou dans un cycle, ce sera de nouveau son tour de me prouver la qualité de son feu. Je ne lui manquerai pas, elle ne me manquera pas — et tout sera consumé.

‏ﺇﻧﻪ ﻳﺤﺒﻬﺎ ﺃﻛﺜﺮ ﻣﻦ ﻛﻞ ﺍﻷﺧﺮﻳﺎﺕ، ﻭ ﻟﻜﻨﻪ ﻳﺤﺘﺎﺝ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻷﺧﺮﻳاﺕ ﻟﻜﻲ ﻳﻔﻄﻦ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺫﻟﻚ

I have sometimes lost friends, but friends have never lost me.

La grande courtisane, la petite sainte.

Most virtue is a demand for greater seduction.

Youth is not a question of years: one is young or old from birth.

The advantage of love at first sight is that it delays a second sight.

If we keep an open mind, too much is likely to fall into it

My queerness is not a vice, is not deliberate, and harms no one.