The idea which tyrants find most useful is the idea of God. Stendhal More Quotes by Stendhal More Quotes From Stendhal The French are the wittiest, the most charming, and up to the present, at all events, the least musical race on Earth. Stendhal events musical race Ah, Sir, a novel is a mirror carried along a high road. At one moment it reflects to your vision the azure skies, at another the mire of the puddles at your feet. And the man who carries this mirror in his pack will be accused by you of being immoral! His mirror shews the mire, and you blame the mirror! Rather blame that high road upon which the puddle lies, still more the inspector of roads who allows the water to gather and the puddle to form. Stendhal feet men lying At a distance, we cannot conceive of the authority of a despot who knows all his subjects on sight. Stendhal distance government power Napoleon was indeed the man sent by God to help the youth of France! Who is to take his place? Stendhal france hero men She had caprices of a marvellous unexpectedness, and how is any one to imitate a caprice? Stendhal unexpectedness caprice marvellous On a cold winter morning a cigar fortifies the soul. Stendhal soul winter morning For the future, I shall rely only upon those elements of my character which I have tested. Who would ever have said that I should find pleasure in shedding tears? That I should love the man who proves to me that I am nothing more than a fool? Stendhal tears character men The only unhappiness is a life of boredom. Stendhal boredom unhappiness Prudery is a kind of avarice, the worst of all. Stendhal avarice-greed morality kind Because one has little fear of shocking vanity in Italy, people adopt an intimate tone very quickly and discuss personal things. Stendhal vanity littles people Jean Jacques Rousseauis nothing but a fool in my eyes when he takes it upon himself to criticise society; he did not understand it, and approached it with the heart of an upstart flunkey.... For all his preaching a Republic and the overthrow of monarchical titles, the upstart is mad with joy if a Duke alters the course of his after-dinner stroll to accompany one of his friends. Stendhal mad eye heart The ordinary procedure of the nineteenth century is that when a powerful and noble personage encounters a man of feeling, he kills, exiles, imprisons or so humiliates him that the other, like a fool, dies of grief. Stendhal powerful grief men Beauty is the promise of happiness. Stendhal Since I am a man, my heart is three or four times less sensitive, because I have three or four times as much power of reason and experience of the world -- a thing which you women call hard-heartedness. As a man, I can take refuge in having mistresses. The more of them I have, and the greater the scandal, the more I acquire reputation and brilliance in society. Stendhal If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t. Stendhal
