One must be truthful with oneself about one's own motives, especially if one is to survive in the world. It takes rigor, and it takes courage. Emile Chartier More Quotes by Emile Chartier More Quotes From Emile Chartier Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have. Emile Chartier wisdom inspiring inspirational There is a future that makes itself and a future we make. The real future is composed of both. Emile Chartier real Two things are aesthetically perfect in the world - the clock and the cat. Emile Chartier cat perfect two The most difficult thing in the world is to say thinkingly what everybody says without thinking. Emile Chartier difficult world thinking People who are upset about something ruminate on it whenever they get a chance; they are constantly drawn back to their own unhappy tale as if it were a horror story left open on a table. Emile Chartier horror-stories upset people I have only one thing to say to the melancholy man: 'Look into the distance.' ... When you look at the stars or the ocean's expanse, your eye is completely relaxed; once your eye is relaxed, your mind is unfettered. Emile Chartier distance ocean stars To think is to say 'no.' Emile Chartier human-condition nihilism thinking It is not difficult to be unhappy or discontented; all you have to do is sit down, like a prince waiting to be amused. ... It is impossible to be happy if one does not have the desire to be happy; one must therefore will one's happiness, and create it. Emile Chartier unhappy waiting desire Profound sadness is always the result of an unhealthy condition of the body. ... We [should] say, 'I am sad; everything looks black to me; but external events are in no way responsible. It's my body that insists on reasoning. These are the opinions of my stomach.' Emile Chartier sadness black profound What is a thousand years? Time is short for one who thinks, endless for one who yearns. Emile Chartier time years thinking We must recognize the eloquence of our passions and refuse to be taken in. Instead of saying, 'That false friend always did despise me,' say: 'In my present state of agitation, I can't see clearly, I can't judge clearly; I am only a tragic actor who is declaiming for his own ears.' Then you will see the lights in the theater go out for lack of an audience, and the brilliant sets will be nothing more than painted cardboard. Emile Chartier passion light taken Wouldn't a sailor laugh at you if you told him that the whole crossing depends on the first turn of the helm? Emile Chartier sailor laughing firsts Man himself is an enigma in motion; his questions never stay asked; whereas the mold, the footprint, and by natural extension, the statue itself, like the vaults, the arches, the temples with which man records his own passing, remain immobile and fix a moment of man's life, upon which one might endlessly meditate. Emile Chartier vaults might men We prove what we want to prove, and the real difficulty is to know what we want to prove. Emile Chartier proof real want If religion is only human, and its form is man's form, it follows that everything in religion is true. Emile Chartier form men religion There are only two kinds of scholars; those who love ideas and those who hate them. Emile Chartier hate two ideas It is the human condition to question one god after another, one appearance after another, or better, one apparition after another, always pursuing the truth of the imagination, which is not the same as the truth of appearance. Emile Chartier apparitions appearance imagination When we speak, in gestures or signs, we fashion a real object in the world; the gesture is seen, the words and the song are heard. The arts are simply a kind of writing, which, in one way or another, fixes words or gestures, and gives body to the invisible. Emile Chartier fashion song art Every idea I get I have to deny, that's my way of testing it. Emile Chartier deny way ideas As opposed to the incoherent spectacle of the world, the real is what is expected, what is obtained and what is discovered by our own movement. It is what is sensed as being within our own power and always responsive to our action. Emile Chartier movement real world
