Ninon De L'Enclos Quotes & Sayings

Reserve delicacy of sentiment for friendship; accept love for what it is.... The more dignity you give it, the more dangerous you make it. — Ninon De L'Enclos

A man is given the choice between loving women and understanding them. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Old age is women's hell. — Ninon De L'Enclos

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful. — Ninon De L'Enclos

There are other things besides beauty with which to captivate the hearts of men. The Italians have a saying: Fair is not fair, but that which pleaseth. — Ninon De L'Enclos

The more sins you confess, the more books you will sell. — Ninon De L'Enclos

We should lay in a store of food, but never of pleasures; these should be gathered day by day. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Actors ought to be larger than life. You come across quite enough ordinary, nondescript people in daily life and I don't see why you should be subjected to them on the stage too. — Ninon De L'Enclos

When our desires are fulfilled, we never fail to realize the wealth of imagination and the paucity of reality. — Ninon De L'Enclos

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

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

There is always a moment in the pyramid of our lives when the apex is reached. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Wit is a dangerous talent in friendship. — Ninon De L'Enclos

What is death, after all? We leave only mortals behind us. — Ninon De L'Enclos

It requires infinitely a greater genius to make love, than to make war. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Ennui, the parent of expensive and ruinous vices. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Novelty is the storehouse of pleasure. — Ninon De L'Enclos

The resistance of a woman is not always a proof of her virtue, but more frequently of her experience. — Ninon De L'Enclos

I have always sworn to my lovers to love them eternally, but for me eternity is a quarter of an hour. — Ninon De L'Enclos

The joy of a spirit is the measure of its power. — Ninon De L'Enclos

If God had to give a woman wrinkles, He might at least have put them on the soles of her feet. — Ninon De L'Enclos

The mind has great advantages over the body; however the body often furnishes little treats ... which offer the mind relief from sad thoughts. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Glances are the first billets-doux of love. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Who has not raised a tombstone, here and there, over buried hopes and dead joys, on the road of life? Like the scars of the heart, they are not to be obliterated. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Indiscretion and wickedness, be it known, are first cousins. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Love never dies of starvation, but often of indigestion. — Ninon De L'Enclos

The loss of friends is a tax on age! — Ninon De L'Enclos

There are no perfect women in the world; only hypocrites exhibit no defects. — Ninon De L'Enclos

It is not enough to be wise, one must be engaging. — Ninon De L'Enclos

A woman is more influenced by what she divines than by what she is told. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Gentleness! more powerful than Hercules. — Ninon De L'Enclos

It is strange that modesty is the rule for women when what they most value in men is boldness. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Oaths are the counterfeit money with which we pay the sacrifice of love. — Ninon De L'Enclos

One must choose between loving women and knowing them. — Ninon De L'Enclos

The secret known to two is no longer a secret. — Ninon De L'Enclos

I hold those wise who know how to be happy. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Love without desire is a delusion: it does not exist in nature. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Memory is ever active, ever true. Alas, if it were only as easy to forget! — Ninon De L'Enclos

A sensible woman should be guided by her head when taking a husband, and by her heart when taking a lover. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Men lose more conquests by their own awkwardness than by any virtue in the woman. — Ninon De L'Enclos

A woman should not take a lover without the consent of her heart, nor a husband without the consent of her reason. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Old age is a woman's hell. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Firmness is great; persistency is greater. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Never tell a loved one of an infidelity: you would be badly rewarded for your troubles. Although one dislikes being deceived, one likes even less to be undeceived. — Ninon De L'Enclos

After the age of eighty, all contemporaries are friends. — Ninon De L'Enclos

The passions do not die out; they burn out. — Ninon De L'Enclos

The less heart, the more comfort. — Ninon De L'Enclos

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. — Ninon De L'Enclos

The joy of the mind is the measure of its strength. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Hatred is nearly always honest
rarely, if ever, assumed. So much cannot be said for love. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Feminine virtue is nothing but a convenient masculine invention. — Ninon De L'Enclos

There is a certain time of life, when we value a good stomach more than the mind ... — Ninon De L'Enclos

It takes a hundred times more skill to make love than to command an army. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Friendship should be in the singular; it can be no more plural than love. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Gossip, like ennui, is born of idleness. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Inconstancy is the child of satiety. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Equality is the share of every one at their advent upon earth, and equality is also theirs when placed beneath it. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Soft moonlight and tender love harmonize together wonderfully. — Ninon De L'Enclos

Words really flattering are not those which we prepare but those which escape us unthinkingly. — Ninon De L'Enclos