What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; what another would have written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself - and thus make yourself indispensable.

Andre Gide

Categorized in : Writing Change Being Yourself

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight,... by Andre Gide

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.

change motivational inspirational

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for so... by Andre Gide

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

inspirational love life

Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.

learning communication knowledge

There's a law in life: whenever a door closes, a new one will ope... by Andre Gide

There's a law in life: whenever a door closes, a new one will open.

law doors

Every instant of our lives is essentially irreplaceable: you must know this in order to concentrate on life.

irreplaceable life-is order

True intelligence very readily conceives of an intelligence superior to its own; and this is why truly intelligent men are modest.

modest intelligent men

Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable... by Andre Gide

Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you.

helping-others wise kindness

The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deceptio... by Andre Gide

The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.

hypocrite truth lying

Know thyself. A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever studies himself arrest his own development. A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly.

butterfly success life

Know that joy is rarer, more difficult, and more beautiful than sadness. Once you make this all-important discovery, you must embrace joy as a moral obligation.

sadness discovery beautiful

The color of truth is gray. by Andre Gide

The color of truth is gray.

intelligence color intellectual

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight... by Andre Gide

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

positive inspirational life

The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reas... by Andre Gide

The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.

madness writing beautiful

The thing I am most aware of is my limits. And this is natural; for I never, or almost never, occupy the middle of my cage; my whole being surges toward the bars.

philosophy history art

Yet I'm sure there's something more to be read in a man. People dare not -- they dare not turn the page. The laws of mimicry -- I call them the laws of fear. People are afraid to find themselves alone, and don't find themselves at all. I hate this moral agoraphobia -- it's the worst kind of cowardice. You can't create something without being alone. But who's trying to create here? What seems different in yourself: that's the one rare thing you possess, the one thing which gives each of us his worth; and that's just what we try to suppress. We imitate. And we claim to love life.

hate love men

Throw away my book: you must understand that it represents only one of a thousand attitudes. You must find your own. If someone else could have done something as well as you, don’t do it. If someone else could have said something as well as you, don’t say it—or written something as well as you, don’t write it. Grow fond only of that which you can find nowhere but in yourself, and create out of yourself, impatiently or patiently, ah! that most irreplaceable of beings.

writing attitude book

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself. by Andre Gide

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.

beautiful inspirational life

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.

happiness order past

The most decisive actions of our life - I mean those that are most likely to decide the whole course of our future - are, more often than not, unconsidered.

future life mean

Through loyalty to the past, our mind refuses to realize that tomorrow's joy is possible only if today's makes way for it; that each wave owes the beauty of its line only to the withdrawal of the preceding one.

loyalty happiness past