Alfred de Vigny
18 quotes
Biography
"Art ought never to be considered except in its relations with its ideal beauty."
"Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the imitation of life?"
"Hope is the greatest madness. What can we expect of a world that we enter with the assurance of seeing our fathers and mothers die? A world where, if two beings love each other and give their lives to each other, both can be sure that one will watch the other perish?"
"Oh, I have a habit of letting myself be lectured on the things I know best. I like to see if they are understood in the same way I understand; for there are many ways of knowing the same thing"
"L'existence du Soldat est (après la peine de mort) la trace la plus douloureuse de barbarie qui subsiste parmi les hommes."
"Tout homme a vu le mur qui borne son esprit."
"L'histoire est un roman dont le peuple est l'auteur."
"On étouffe les clameurs, mais comment se venger du silence?"
"Un désespoir paisible, sans convulsions de colère et sans reproches au ciel est la sagesse même."
"Les acteurs sont bien heureux, ils ont une gloire sans responsabilité."
"La presse est une bouche forcée d'être toujours ouverte et de parler toujours. De là vient qu'elle dit mille fois qu'elle n'a rien à dire."
"Un livre est une bouteille jetée en pleine mer sur laquelle il faut coller cette étiquette: attrape qui peut."
"Le théâtre n'a jamais été en Angleterre qu'une mode des hautes classes ou une débauche du bas peuple."
"Selected works of Alfred de Vigny in French"
"But it is the province of religion, of philosophy, of pure poetry only, to go beyond life, beyond time, into eternity."
"But it is the province of religion, of philosophy, of pure poetry only, to go beyond life, beyond time, into eternity."
"On the day when man told the story of his life to man, history was born."
"Do you know that charming part of our country which has been called the garden of France - that spot where, amid verdant plains watered by wide streams, one inhales the purest air of heaven?"