Ninon De L'Enclos Quotes

It is strange that modesty is the rule for women when what they most value in men is boldness.

Shall I tell you what makes love so dangerous? 'Tis the too high idea we are apt to form of it.

Oaths are the counterfeit money with which we pay the sacrifice of love.

The mind has great advantages over the body; however the body often furnishes little treats ... which offer the mind relief from sad thoughts.

It is not enough to be wise, one must be engaging.

Love without desire is a delusion: it does not exist in nature.

I hold those wise who know how to be happy.

After the age of eighty, all contemporaries are friends.

The resistance of a woman is not always a proof of her virtue, but more frequently of her experience.

The joy of a spirit is the measure of its power.

When our desires are fulfilled, we never fail to realize the wealth of imagination and the paucity of reality.

Firmness is great; persistency is greater.

The loss of friends is a tax on age!

Men lose more conquests by their own awkwardness than by any virtue in the woman.

Reserve delicacy of sentiment for friendship; accept love for what it is.... The more dignity you give it, the more dangerous you make it.

One must choose between loving women and knowing them.

Indiscretion and wickedness, be it known, are first cousins.

Novelty is the storehouse of pleasure.

The secret known to two is no longer a secret.

Feminine virtue is nothing but a convenient masculine invention.

The joy of the mind is the measure of its strength.

Glances are the first billets-doux of love.

What is death, after all? We leave only mortals behind us.

Old age is a woman's hell.

A cunning woman is her own mistress because she confides in no one. She who deceives others anticipates deceit, and guards herself.

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.

A sensible woman should be guided by her head when taking a husband, and by her heart when taking a lover.

Ennui, the parent of expensive and ruinous vices.

If God had to give a woman wrinkles, He might at least have put them on the soles of her feet.

A woman should not take a lover without the consent of her heart, nor a husband without the consent of her reason.

Equality is the share of every one at their advent upon earth, and equality is also theirs when placed beneath it.

It takes a hundred times more skill to make love than to command an army.

Words really flattering are not those which we prepare but those which escape us unthinkingly.

Love never dies of starvation, but often of indigestion.

The more sins you confess, the more books you will sell.

Wit is a dangerous talent in friendship.

Memory is ever active, ever true. Alas, if it were only as easy to forget!

I have always sworn to my lovers to love them eternally, but for me eternity is a quarter of an hour.

Old age is women's hell.

There is a certain time of life, when we value a good stomach more than the mind ...

Friendship should be in the singular; it can be no more plural than love.

Hatred is nearly always honest
rarely, if ever, assumed. So much cannot be said for love.

There is always a moment in the pyramid of our lives when the apex is reached.

Gossip, like ennui, is born of idleness.

It requires infinitely a greater genius to make love, than to make war.

If a man needs a religion to conduct himself properly in this world, it is a sign that he has either a limited mind or a corrupt heart.

The less heart, the more comfort.

The passions do not die out; they burn out.

There are no perfect women in the world; only hypocrites exhibit no defects.

Gentleness! more powerful than Hercules.

We should lay in a store of food, but never of pleasures; these should be gathered day by day.

Inconstancy is the child of satiety.

Soft moonlight and tender love harmonize together wonderfully.

A man is given the choice between loving women and understanding them.

A woman is more influenced by what she divines than by what she is told.