Stendhal Quotes

Everything is noble and delicate (on Lake Como), everything speaks of love, nothing recalls the ugliness of civilization. The villages located halfway up the coast are hidden by trees, and above the tops of the trees rises the graceful architecture of their slender bell towers. If some small field, fifty paces wide, occasionally interrupts the "bouquets" of chestnut and wild cherry trees, the satisfied eye sees plants growing happier and more vigorous than elsewhere. Beyond these hills, whose peaks offer hermitages that we would all like to inhabit, the amazed eye discovers the peaks of the Alps, always covered with snow, and their sublime austerity reminds him of the misfortunes of life, and this increases the voluptuousness. of the present hour. The imagination is moved by the distant sound of the bell of some tiny village hidden under the trees; and the sounds carried on the waters, which soften them, take on a color of sweet melancholy and resignation, and seem to say to man: Life is fleeing, so do not show yourself so reluctant towards the happiness that presents itself, hurry to enjoy. The language of these enchanting places, which have no equal in the world, restored her sixteen-year-old heart to the Countess.

There are as many styles of beauty as there are visions of happiness.

"I think being condemned to death is the only real distinction," said Mathilde. "It is the only thing which cannot be bought."

Mathilde ura din tot sufletul lipsa de caracter; acesta era singurul cusur de care îi învinuia pe frumoşii tineri
din preajma.

I forgot to illustrate this salon. Sir Walter Scott, and his imitators, would have started with that, but for me, I abhor material description. The trouble of making them prevents me from writing novels.

La vanité piquée peut mener loin un jeune homme riche et dès le berceau toujours environné de flatteurs.

إن العذر الوحيد لله هو كونه غير موجود

Feminine delicacy was carried to excess in Mme de Renal.

Es la violenta impresion de lo feo sobre u n alma destinada a amar lo bello.

The only excuse for God is that He does not exist.

Je soutenais qu'un grand tiers du mérite de sir Walter Scott était dû à un secrétaire qui lui ébauchait les descriptions de paysage en présence de la nature. Je le trouvais comme le je trouve, faible en peinture de passion, en connaissance du cœur humain. La postérité confirmera-t-elle le jugement des contemporains qui place le Baronnet Ultra immédiatement après Shakespeare.

آدمى سخن مى گويد تا افكار خود را بيشتر پنهان كند.

There is nothing so beautiful, lovable and moving as the English countryside.

(Le Centre du Lac) … et le hardi promontoire qui sépare les deux branches du lac, celle de Come, si voluptuense et celle qui court vers Lecco, plein de sévérité; aspect sublime et gracieux, que le site le plus renommé du monde, la baie de Naples, égale, mais ne surpasse point...

Could anything possibly be more humorous than believing in the depth or in the depravity of the Parisian character?