Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Marguerite Yourcenar

Marguerite Yourcenar Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Marguerite Yourcenar on Wise Famous Quotes.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Of all our games, love's play is the only one which threatens to unsettle the soul ...

Of all our games, love's play is the only one which threatens to unsettle the soul ...

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: To stay in one place and watch the seasons come and go is tanatmount to constant travel: One is traveling with the earth.

To stay in one place and watch the seasons come and go is tanatmount to constant travel: One is traveling with the earth.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: But happiness is brittle, and if men and circumstances don't destroy it, it is threatened by ghosts.

But happiness is brittle, and if men and circumstances don't destroy it, it is threatened by ghosts.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Love is a punishment. We are punished for not having been strong enough to remain alone.

Love is a punishment. We are punished for not having been strong enough to remain alone.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: [On travel:] Who would be so besotted as to die without having made at least the round of this, his prison?

[On travel:] Who would be so besotted as to die without having made at least the round of this, his prison?

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Our great mistake is to try to exact from each person virtues which he does not possess, and to neglect the cultivation of those which he has.

Our great mistake is to try to exact from each person virtues which he does not possess, and to neglect the cultivation of those which he has.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Age means nothing. If anything I feel that I'm still a child: eternity and childhood are my ages.

Age means nothing. If anything I feel that I'm still a child: eternity and childhood are my ages.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Suffering turns us into egotists, for it absorbs us completely: it is later, in the form of memory, that it teaches us compassion.

Suffering turns us into egotists, for it absorbs us completely: it is later, in the form of memory, that it teaches us compassion.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Cruelty is the luxury of those who have nothing to do, like drugs or racing stables.

Cruelty is the luxury of those who have nothing to do, like drugs or racing stables.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: The world is big ... May it please the One who perchance is to expand the human heart to life's full measure.

The world is big ... May it please the One who perchance is to expand the human heart to life's full measure.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: In the evenings the art of building gave way to that of music, which is architecture, too, though invisible.

In the evenings the art of building gave way to that of music, which is architecture, too, though invisible.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: I am not sure that the discovery of love is necessarily more exquisite than the discovery of poetry.

I am not sure that the discovery of love is necessarily more exquisite than the discovery of poetry.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Any happiness is a masterpiece.

Any happiness is a masterpiece.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: There are books which one should not attempt before having passed the age of forty.

There are books which one should not attempt before having passed the age of forty.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Water drunk more reverently still, from the hands or from the spring itself, diffuses within us the most secret salt of earth and the rain of heaven.

Water drunk more reverently still, from the hands or from the spring itself, diffuses within us the most secret salt of earth and the rain of heaven.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Books are not life, only its ashes.

Books are not life, only its ashes.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: We say: mad with joy. We should say: wise with grief.

We say: mad with joy. We should say: wise with grief.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: I have never seasoned a truth with the sauce of a lie in order to digest it more easily.

I have never seasoned a truth with the sauce of a lie in order to digest it more easily.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Every hour has its immediate duty, its special injunction which dominates all others ...

Every hour has its immediate duty, its special injunction which dominates all others ...

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: For me, a poet is someone who is 'in contact.' Someone through whom a current is passing.

For me, a poet is someone who is 'in contact.' Someone through whom a current is passing.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: The world, which is sometimes too stern, compensates for its harshness with its inattention.

The world, which is sometimes too stern, compensates for its harshness with its inattention.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Translating is writing.

Translating is writing.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: One is always punished out of season.

One is always punished out of season.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: It is not difficult to nourish admirable thoughts when the stars are present.

It is not difficult to nourish admirable thoughts when the stars are present.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: That imperial guard which poets and humanists mount in relay around any great memory.

That imperial guard which poets and humanists mount in relay around any great memory.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Every invalid is a prisoner.

Every invalid is a prisoner.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Nothing is slower than the true birth of a man.

Nothing is slower than the true birth of a man.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Morals are a matter of private agreement; decency is of public concern.

Morals are a matter of private agreement; decency is of public concern.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: And it was at about this time that I began to feel myself divine.

And it was at about this time that I began to feel myself divine.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Leaving behind books is even more beautiful - there are far too many children.

Leaving behind books is even more beautiful - there are far too many children.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: If you love life you also love the past, because it is the present as it has survived in memory. Translation by David Downie

If you love life you also love the past, because it is the present as it has survived in memory. Translation by David Downie

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: the lover who leaves reason in control does not follow his god to the end.

the lover who leaves reason in control does not follow his god to the end.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Everything is too far away in the past, or mysteriously too close.

Everything is too far away in the past, or mysteriously too close.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: It is not that I despise men. If I did I should have no right, and no reason, to try to govern.

It is not that I despise men. If I did I should have no right, and no reason, to try to govern.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Men who care passionately for women attach themselves at least as much to the temple and to the accessories of the cult as to their goddess herself.

Men who care passionately for women attach themselves at least as much to the temple and to the accessories of the cult as to their goddess herself.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Everything turns out to be valuable that one does for one's self without thought of profit.

Everything turns out to be valuable that one does for one's self without thought of profit.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: A touch of madness is, I think, almost always necessary for constructing a destiny.

A touch of madness is, I think, almost always necessary for constructing a destiny.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Our true birthplace is that in which we cast for the first time an intelligent eye on ourselves. My first homelands were my books.

Our true birthplace is that in which we cast for the first time an intelligent eye on ourselves. My first homelands were my books.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: I believe that friendship, like love, of which it is a particular kind, requires nearly as much art as a successful choreography.

I believe that friendship, like love, of which it is a particular kind, requires nearly as much art as a successful choreography.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: I was willing to yield to nostalgia, that melancholy residue of desire.

I was willing to yield to nostalgia, that melancholy residue of desire.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: On the whole, however, it is only out of pride or gross ignorance, or cowardice, that we refuse to see in the present the lineaments of times to come.

On the whole, however, it is only out of pride or gross ignorance, or cowardice, that we refuse to see in the present the lineaments of times to come.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: A being afire with life cannot foresee death; in fact, by each of his deeds he denies that death exists.

A being afire with life cannot foresee death; in fact, by each of his deeds he denies that death exists.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Human beings betray their worst failings when they marvel to find that a world ruler is neither foolishly indolent, presumptuous, nor cruel.

Human beings betray their worst failings when they marvel to find that a world ruler is neither foolishly indolent, presumptuous, nor cruel.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: One reads thousands of books, of poets, modern and ancient, as one meets thousands of people. What remains of it all is hard to tell.

One reads thousands of books, of poets, modern and ancient, as one meets thousands of people. What remains of it all is hard to tell.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: No one understands eternity. One simply recognizes its existence.

No one understands eternity. One simply recognizes its existence.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Attianus had been right in his conjectures: the virgin gold of respect would be too soft without some alloy of fear.

Attianus had been right in his conjectures: the virgin gold of respect would be too soft without some alloy of fear.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: Any truth creates a scandal.

Any truth creates a scandal.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: The story-tellers and spinners of erotic tales are hardly more than butchers who hang up meat attractive to flies.

The story-tellers and spinners of erotic tales are hardly more than butchers who hang up meat attractive to flies.

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: This city belongs to ghosts, to murderers, to sleepwalkers. Where are you, in what bed, in what dream?

This city belongs to ghosts, to murderers, to sleepwalkers. Where are you, in what bed, in what dream?

Marguerite Yourcenar quotes: All happiness is a form of innocence.

All happiness is a form of innocence.