Stendhal Quotes

A novel is a mirror walking along a main road.

Love born in the brain is more spirited, doubtless, than true love, but it has only flashes of enthusiasm; it knows itself too well, it criticizes itself incessantly; so far from banishing thought, it is itself reared only upon a structure of thought.

For the future, I shall rely only upon those elements of my character which I have tested. Who would ever have said that I should find pleasure in shedding tears? That I should love the man who proves to me that I am nothing more than a fool?

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

God's only excuse is that he does not exist

A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love

A good book is an event in my life.

The pleasures of love are always in proportion to our fears.

La politique au milieu des intérêts d'imagination, c'est un coup de pistolet au milieu d'un concert.

Certaines choses que Napoléon dit des femmes, plusieurs discussiions sur le mérite des romans à la mode sous son règne lui donnèrent alors, pour la première fois, quelques idées que tout autre jeune home de son age aurait eues depuis longtemps.

The first qualification for a historian is to have no ability to invent.

La bonne musique ne se trompe pas, et va droit au fond de l'âme chercher le chagrin qui nous dévore.

I am mad, I am going under, I must follow the advice of a friend, and pay no heed to myself.

I will never demean myself to speak about my courage," said Julien, coldly, "it would be mean to do so. Let the world judge by the facts.

Indeed, man has two different beings inside him. What devil thought of that malicious touch?