Quotes from Andre Gide

Art begins with resistance—at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor.

In order to be utterly happy the only thing necessary is to refrain from comparing this moment with other moments in the past, which I often did not fully enjoy because I was comparing them with other moments of the future.

Parce que ma bouche se tait, pensez-vous que mon coeur se repose?

I exist only as a whole; my only claim is to be natural, and the pleasure I feel in an action, I take as a sign that I ought to do it.

Most often people seek in life occasions for persisting in their opinions rather than for educating themselves.

After much searching I have found the thing that sets me apart: a sort of stubborn attachment to evil.

Understand that the only possession of any value is life.

The most beaten paths are certainly the surest, but do not hope to start much game on them.

There's no better cure for the fear of taking after one's father, than not to know who he is.

One must allow other people to be right, he used to say when he was insulted, It consoles them for not being anything else.

I like life well enough to want to live it awake

Existing is occupation enough.

The reasons that drive me to write are many and the most important are the most secret, I think. Perhaps most of all this: to put something out of death's reach.

The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, seeing that his work was good.

I have no use for knowledge that has not been preceded by a sensation

I prefer granting with a good grace what I know I shan't be able to prevent.

The truth is, I hoped the cure would dislike me. I tried to think of disagreeable things to say to him -- I could hit on nothing that wasn't charming. It's wonderful how hard I find it not to be fascinating.

I intend to bring you strength, joy, courage, perspicacity, defiance.

Croyez ceux qui cherchent la vérité, doutez de ceux qui la trouvent.

They establish distinctions and reserves which I cannot apply to myself, for I exist only as a whole; my only claim is to be natural, and the pleasure I feel in an action, I take as a sign that I ought to do it.

The very things that separated me and distinguished me from other people were what mattered; the very things no one else would or could say, these were the things I had to say.

The loveliest creations of men are persistently painful. What would be the description of happiness?

Will it be here that we shall find a place which will not elude us, or which if it remains does not exert on us a culpable attraction? Or must we, leaning over the deck and watching the shores glide by, move forever onward?

It is better to be hated for what you are than be loved for something you are not.