Andre Maurois Quotes & Sayings

Like a bird, when his cage is opened, stays on his perch, dazzled by freedom, the postponed traveler does not see that his cage, with its bars of anxiety, it is open. — Andre Maurois

A few days later we went to the opera together to watch my beloved Siegfried. It was a pleasure for me to listen to it beside the man who had become my hero. — Andre Maurois

Memory is a great artist. For every man and for every woman it makes the recollection of his or her life a work of art and an unfaithful record. — Andre Maurois

To reason with poorly chosen words is like using a pair of scales with inaccurate weights. — Andre Maurois

Live as if you were eternal. — Andre Maurois

We can talk frankly about our defects only to those who recognise our qualities. — Andre Maurois

Art is an effort to create, beside the real world, a more humane world. — Andre Maurois

A friend loves you for your intelligence, a mistress for your charm, but your family's love is unreasoning; you were born into it and are of its flesh and blood. Nevertheless it can irritate you more than any group of people in the world. — Andre Maurois

A great statesman, like a good housekeeper, knows that cleaning has to be done every morning. — Andre Maurois

In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others. — Andre Maurois

The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such. All leaders whose fitness is questioned are clearly lacking in force. — Andre Maurois

No one can be profoundly original who does not avoid eccentricity. — Andre Maurois

The reading of a fine book is an uninterrupted dialogue in which the book speaks and our soul replies. — Andre Maurois

If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really desire the things they failed to obtain. — Andre Maurois

Novelty, the most potent of all attractions, is also the most perishable. — Andre Maurois

The friendship of two young people,' says Goethe somewhere, 'is delightful when the girl likes to learn and the boy to teach.' It will perhaps be said that this virgin curiosity is no more than unconscious physical desire; but what does it matter, if this desire sharpens the mind and deadens conceit? — Andre Maurois

The art of reading is in great part that of acquiring a better understanding of life from one's encounter with it in a book. — Andre Maurois

Either the soul is immortal and we shall not die, or it perishes with the flesh, and we shall not know that we are dead. Live, then, as if you were eternal. — Andre Maurois

Even our strongest emotions die, don't you think? And we can look back to the woman we were three years ago with the same curiosity and detachment as if it were someone else. — Andre Maurois

Without a family,man,alone in the world, trembles with the cold. — Andre Maurois

A gentleman is never in a hurry. — Andre Maurois

A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short. — Andre Maurois

Above all things, never be afraid. The enemy who forces you to retreat is himself afraid of you at that very moment. — Andre Maurois

The need to express one's self in writing springs from a maladjustment of life, or from an inner conflict which the adolescent (or the grown man) cannot resolve in action. — Andre Maurois

Few are they who have never had a chance to achieve happiness- and fewer those who have taken that chance. — Andre Maurois

To desire to be perpetually in the society of a pretty woman until the end of one's days, is as if, because one likes good wine, one wished always to have one's mouth full of it. — Andre Maurois

British conversation is like a game of cricket or a boxing match; personal allusions are forbidden like hitting below the belt, and anyone who loses his temper is disqualified. — Andre Maurois

The art of growing old is the art of being regarded by the oncoming generations as a support and not as a stumbling-block. — Andre Maurois

Experience is valuable only when it has brought suffering and when the suffering has left its mark upon both body and mind. — Andre Maurois

Stupidity is a factor to be reckoned with in human affairs. The true leader always expects to encounter it, and prepares to endure it patiently so long as it is normal stupidity. He knows that his ideas will be distorted, his orders carelessly executed; and that there will be jealousy among his assistants. He takes these inevitable phenomena into account, and instead of attempting to find men without faults, who are non-existent, he tries to make use of the best men at his disposal - as they are, and not as they ought to be. — Andre Maurois

Style is the outcome of constraint. — Andre Maurois

The life of a couple is lived on the mental level of the more mediocre of the two beings who compose it. — Andre Maurois

What men call friendship is only social intercourse, an exchange of favours and good offices; it comes down to a commercial dealing in which self-esteem always expects to profit. — Andre Maurois

A marriage without conflicts is almost as inconceivable as a nation without crises. — Andre Maurois

Sincerity is glass, discretion is diamond. — Andre Maurois

Almost all great writers have as their motif, more or less disguised, the passage from childhood to maturity, the clash between the thrill of expectation and the disillusioning knowledge of truth. 'Lost Illusion' is the undisclosed title of every novel. — Andre Maurois

Love born of anxiety resembles a thorn shaped so that efforts to pull it out of one's flesh merely cause it to penetrate more deeply therein. — Andre Maurois

One might have said that reason made him flee from reason. — Andre Maurois

The longer the road to love, the keener is the pleasure. — Andre Maurois

It is not events and the things one sees and enjoys that produce happiness, but a state of mind which can endow events with its own quality, and we must hope for the duration of this state rather than the recurrence of pleasurable events. — Andre Maurois

Information is not culture. In the mind of a truly educated person, facts are organized, and they make up a living world in the image of the world of reality. — Andre Maurois

And why wander in these labyrinths? Once more, for aesthetic reasons; because this present infinity, these "vertiginous symmetries," have their tragic beauty. The form is more important than the content. — Andre Maurois

We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity
romantic love and gunpowder. — Andre Maurois

Every ten years you should delete from your mind a few ideas that your experience has proven to be false, dangerous. — Andre Maurois

I knew a man who had been virtually drowned and then revived. He said that his death had not been painful. — Andre Maurois

Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. We lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year's time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody. No, let us devote our life to worthwhile actions and feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings. — Andre Maurois

Conversation would be vastly improved by the constant use of four simple words: I do not know. — Andre Maurois

A great writer has a high respect for values. His essential function is to raise life to the dignity of thought, and this he does by giving it a shape. — Andre Maurois

If, in New York, you arrive late for an appointment, say, "I took a taxi". — Andre Maurois

Self-pity comes so naturally to all of us. The most solid happiness can be shaken by the compassion of a fool. — Andre Maurois

The clear and simple words of common usage are always better than those of erudition. The jargon of the philosophers not seldom conceals an absence of thought. — Andre Maurois

Only passions can raise a man above the level of the animal. — Andre Maurois

Everything that is in agreement with our personal desires
seems true. Everything that is not puts us into a rage. — Andre Maurois

People are discontent; men are troubled; and the literature is excellent. — Andre Maurois

Woman's great strength lies in being late or absent. Presence immediately reveals the weak points of our beloved; when she is absent she become one of the sylph-like figures of our adolescence whom we endowed with perfection. — Andre Maurois

An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not go flopping along. — Andre Maurois

All of us, from time to time, need a plunge into freedom and novelty, after which routine and discipline will seem delightful by contrast. — Andre Maurois

Genius consists of equal parts of natural aptitude and hard work. — Andre Maurois

The greedy search for money or success will almost always lead men into unhappiness. Why? Because that kind of life makes them depend upon things outside themselves. — Andre Maurois

The minds of different generations are as impenetrable one by the other as are the monads of Leibniz. — Andre Maurois

We are almost always the craftsman of our own unhappiness. — Andre Maurois

The effectiveness of work increases according to geometric progression if there are no interruptions. — Andre Maurois

We appreciate frankness from those who like us. Frankness from others is called insolence. — Andre Maurois

A man cannot free himself from the past more easily than he can from his own body. — Andre Maurois

It is restful to leave one's home; not because traveling does not entail varied and difficult daily actions, but because it removes our responsibilities. — Andre Maurois

We console ourselves with several friends for not having found one real one. — Andre Maurois

Among the idle rich, boredom is one of the most common causes of unhappiness. People who have difficulty in earning their living may suffer greatly, but they are not bored. Wealthy men and women become bored when they depend upon the theater for their enjoyment instead of making their own lives interesting. — Andre Maurois

Old age diminishes our strength; it takes away our pleasures one after the other; it withers the soul as well as the body; it renders adventure and friendship difficult; and finally it is shadowed by thoughts of death. — Andre Maurois

[ ... ] marriage is one thing, and love is another ... You need to have a solid canvas; nobody stops you to weave the arabesques ... — Andre Maurois

A true woman loves a strong man because she knows his weaknesses. She protects as much as she is protected. — Andre Maurois

Advice is always a confession. — Andre Maurois

Happiness flourishes where there is happiness. — Andre Maurois

Two human beings anchored to one another are like two ships shaken by waves; their carcases collide with one another and creak. — Andre Maurois

Old age is far more than white hair, wrinkles, the feeling that it is too late and the game is finished, that the stage belongs to the rising generations. The true evil is not the weakening of the body, but the indifference of the soul. — Andre Maurois

People are what you make them. A scornful look turns into a complete fool a man of average intelligence. A contemptuous indifference turns into an enemy a woman who, well treated, might have been an angel. — Andre Maurois

The need to express oneself in writing springs from a mal-adjustment to life, or from an inner conflict which the adolescent (or the grown man) cannot resolve in action. Those to whom action comes as easily as breathing rarely feel the need to break loose from the real, to rise above, and describe it ... I do not mean that it is enough to be maladjusted to become a great writer, but writing is, for some, a method of resolving a conflict, provided they have the necessary talent. — Andre Maurois

The reputation of a Don Juan gives to a man the most dangerous power. Wise virgins resist it, but foolish virgins frequently yield to the desire to take a celebrated lover from a rival - even from a friend. This emotion is a complex one, mad up of vanity, respect for another woman's taste, and the need to establish self-assurance by winning a difficult victory. Don Juan chose his first mistresses; later he was chosen. — Andre Maurois

To be witty is not enough. One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it. — Andre Maurois

There are deserts in every life, and the desert must be depicted if we are to give a fair and complete idea of the country. — Andre Maurois

If you value a man's regard, strive with him. As to liking, you like your newspaper - and despise it. — Andre Maurois

Nothing provokes more cynicism than a great love that was not shared, but nothing produces more modesty either; I was utterly surprised to feel loved. The truth is: a passion that fully preoccupies a man draws women to him when he least wants them. Even if he is sentimental and tender by nature, when he is obsessed with another he becomes indifferent and almost brutal. Because he is unhappy, he sometimes allows himself to be temped by the offer of affection. As soon as he has tasted this affection, he tires of it and does not disguise the fact. Without wishing to and without even realizing it, he plays the most appalling game. He becomes dangerous and conquers because he himself has been vanquished. This was the case with me. I had never been more convinced of my own inability to attract women, I had never felt less desire to attract them, and I had never received so much clear proof of devotion and love. — Andre Maurois

A great man's manias must be respected, because the time required to combat them is too precious to waste. — Andre Maurois

Happiness is never there to stay [ ... ] Happiness is merely a respite offered by inquietude. — Andre Maurois

An unsatisfied woman requires luxury, but a woman who is in love with a man will lie on a board. — Andre Maurois

It is often said that in prosperity we have many friends, but that we are usually neglected when things go badly. I disagree. Not only do malicious people flock about us in order to witness our ruin, but other unfortunates as well, who have been kept away by our happiness, and now feel close to us on account of our troubles. — Andre Maurois

If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny. — Andre Maurois

Marriage makes a man more vulnerable by doubling the expanse of sail exposed to the tempests of social life. — Andre Maurois

He who wants to do everything will never do anything. — Andre Maurois

Modesty and unselfishness - these are the virtues which men praise - and pass by. — Andre Maurois

When you become used to never being alone, you may consider yourself Americanised — Andre Maurois

Yet had Fleming not possessed immense knowledge and an unremitting gift of observation he might not have observed the effect of the hyssop mould. 'Fortune,' remarked Pasteur, 'favors the prepared mind. — Andre Maurois

A great biography should, like the close of a great drama, leave behind it a feeling of serenity. We collect into a small bunch the flowers, the few flowers, which brought sweetness into a life, and present it as an offering to an accomplished destiny. It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem. — Andre Maurois

Housekeeping in common is for women the acid test. — Andre Maurois

Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy person has no time to form. — Andre Maurois

Men fear silence as they fear solitude, because both give them a glimpse of the terror of life's nothingness. — Andre Maurois

Medicine is a very old joke, but it still goes on. — Andre Maurois

Style is the hallmark of a temperament stamped upon the material at hand. — Andre Maurois

We don't love a woman for what she says, we like what she says because we love her. — Andre Maurois

Writing is a difficult trade which must be learned slowly by reading great authors; by trying at the outset to imitate them; by daring then to be original; by destroying one's first productions. — Andre Maurois

She was remarkably beautiful. And yet there was something in her eyes that I didn't like. A bit of...no...I don't want to say falsity...that would be too...it was--I don't know how to explain it -- it was something like triumphant cunning. Odile needed to dominate. She wanted to impose her will, her version of the truth. Her beauty had given her a lot of self-confidence and she believed, almost in good faith, that if she said something then it became true. This worked with your husband, who adored her, but not with me, and she resented me for that. — Andre Maurois