Quotes from 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.

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

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

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

Genius consists of equal parts of natural aptitude and hard work.

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

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

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.

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

Smile, for everyone lacks self-confidence and more than any other one thing a smile reassures them.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Old age is far more than white hair, wrinkles, the feeling that it is too late and the game 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.

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

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

A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.

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