Colette Quotes

I have lived ten years of wild rovings, of conquests and discoveries, in those woods; the day when I have to leave them my heart will be very heavy.

No one asked you to be happy. Get to work.

Writing only leads to more writing.

We only do well the things we like doing.

At the top of the iron staircase leading to the stage, the good, dry, dusty warmth wraps me round like a comfortable dirty cloak.

Her nature is like a demonstrative cat's; she is delicate, acutely sensitive to cold, and incredibly caressing in her ways.

I heard on their lips the language of passion, of betrayal and jealousy, and sometimes despair - languages with which I was all too familiar.

That lovely voice; how I should weep for joy if I could hear it now!

By associating with the cat, one only risks becoming richer.

You don't think before you do something foolish. You do your thinking afterwards.

Music is love in search of a word.

Don't cudgel your brains over my little problems.

Love is not an honorable sentiment

There is no doubt that, if ever my heart were to call my master Chance by another name, I should make an excellent Catholic.

The only virtue on which I pride myself is my self-doubt; when a writer loses her self-doubt, the time has come to lay aside her pen.

Hope costs nothing.

I was changing. Slowly, if you like, but what matter? To change is the great thing.

There are no ordinary cats.

I went to collect the few personal belongings which ... I held to be invaluable: my cat, my resolve to travel, and my solitude.

Be happy.
It's one way of being wise.

If I can't have too many truffles, I'll do without truffles.

People who are perfectly sane and happy don't make good literature, alas.

I want nothing from love, in short, but love.

It is the image in the mind that links us to our lost treasures; but it is the loss that shapes the image, gathers the flowers, weaves the garland.

Don't ever wear artistic jewelry; it wrecks a woman's reputation

Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.

My true friends always gave me this supreme proof of attachment: a spontaneous aversion to the men I loved.

I did not look for her, because I was afraid of dispelling the mystery we attach to people whom we know only casually.

In its early stages, insomnia is almost an oasis in which those who have to think or suffer darkly take refuge.

And since, through lack of vocation or from habit, [Julie] was prone to confuse pity with boredom, she felt herself practically a prisoner ...

After you, probably anyone can have me who wants me. A woman, many women. But never another cat.

I have found my voice again and the art of using it ...

Beautiful December grapes, blue as plums, every grape a little skinful of sweet, tasteless water

To a poet, silence is an acceptable response, even a flattering one.

The woman who thinks she is intelligent demands equal rights with men. A woman who is intelligent does not.

Incompatibility became established between them like a new season of the year.

They exchanged looks full of mischievous security.

I love my past. I love my present. I'm not ashamed of what I've had, and I'm not sad because I have it no longer.

If he's getting married, he's not longer interesting.

What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner.

Don't you think, that there are very few men who know, without raising their voice or changing their tone, to say ... what has to be said?

I liked being with him, as I like being with swift animals who are motionless when at rest.

What an ennobling sadness you lent to my evening's enjoyment.

Mothers sound so stupid when they praise their daughters to the skies.

Youth is not the age to seduce, it's the age to be seduced.

A good book is a portal that will take you anywhere in the world.

I have no equals, I have only my fellow wayfarers.

Curious how people can go on doing the same thing day after day!

Look for a long time at what pleases you, and longer still at what pains you ...

Two o'clock already! High time for a woman of letters who has turned out badly to go to sleep.

To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.

Do not think, as you read this, that I am painting my own portrait. Be patient, it is only my model.

One can't write of love while making love.

When she raises her eyelids, it's as if she were taking off all her clothes.

You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.

Total absence of humor renders life impossible.

Time spent with a cat is never wasted.