The secret is not to betray your ignorance. Just maneuver, avoid the quicksands and obstacles, and the rest can be found in a dictionary. Guy de Maupassant More Quotes by Guy de Maupassant More Quotes From Guy de Maupassant A human being - what is a human being? Everything and nothing. Through the power of thought it can mirror everything it experiences. Through memory and knowledge it becomes a microcosm, carrying the world within itself. A mirror of things, a mirror of facts. Each human being becomes a little universe within the universe! Guy de Maupassant mirrorsmemoriesworld The public is composed of numerous groups whose cry to us writers is: 'Comfort me.' 'Amuse me.' 'Touch my sympathies.' 'Make me sad.' 'Make me dream.' 'Make me laugh.' 'Make me shiver.' 'Make me weep.' 'Make me think.' Guy de Maupassant dreamlaughingthinking I go to bed, and I wait for sleep as a man might wait for the executioner. I wait for its coming with dread, and my heart beats and my legs tremble, while my whole body shivers beneath the warmth of the bedclothes, until the moment when I suddenly fall asleep, as a man throws himself into a pool of stagnant water in order to drown. I do not feel this perfidious sleep coming over me as I used to, but a sleep which is close to me and watching me, which is going to seize me by the head, to close my eyes and annihilate me. Guy de Maupassant eyesleepfall History, that excitable and unreliable old lady. Guy de Maupassant old-ladyunreliablehistory Solitude is indeed dangerous for a working intelligence. We need to have around us people who think and speak. When we are alone for a long time we people the void with phantoms Guy de Maupassant longpeoplethinking A man forced to spend his life without ever having the right, without ever finding the time, to shut himself up all alone, no matter where, to think, to reflect, to work, to dream? Ah! my dear boy, a key, the key of a door which one can lock this is happiness, mark you, the only happiness! Guy de Maupassant dreammenboys Were a man to spend only one day in Sicily and ask, "What must one see?" I would answer him without hesitation, "Taormina." It is only a landscape, but a landscape where you find everything on earth that seems made to seduce the eyes, the mind and the imagination. Guy de Maupassant eyeimaginationmen Sometimes our thoughts turn back toward a corner in a forest, or the end of a bank, or an orchard powdered with flowers, seen but a single time on some happy day, yet remaining in our hearts and leaving in soul and body an unappeased desire which is not to be forgotten, a feeling that we have just rubbed elbows with happiness. Guy de Maupassant flowerhearthappiness She realized for the first time that two people can never reach each others deepest feelings and instincts, that they spend their lives side by side, linked it may be, but not mingled, and that each one's inmost being must go through life eternally alone. Guy de Maupassant feelingstwopeople One sometimes weeps over one's illusions with as much bitterness as over a death. Guy de Maupassant illusionbitternesssometimes Conversation. What is it? A Mystery! It's the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all. Guy de Maupassant boredtouchingart The essence of life is the smile of round female bottoms, under the shadow of cosmic boredom. Guy de Maupassant smileessenceblessing To contest an author's right to create a poetic or realistic work is to want to force him to change his temperament, challenge his originality, refuse to allow him to use the eye and the intelligence nature has given him. Guy de Maupassant eyeusechallenges And taking her friend’s hand, she put it on her breast, on that firm round covering of a woman’s heart which the male often finds so satisfying that he makes no attempt to find what lies beneath it. Guy de Maupassant heartlyinghands Ale, not beer, in a pewter mug was comme il faut, the only thing for a gentleman of letters, worthy of the name, to drink. Guy de Maupassant gentlemannamesbeer You'll find that my coquetry is quite impartial, which allows me to keep my friends. Guy de Maupassant coquetrymy-friends The English have only three sauces - a white one, a brown one and a yellow one, and none of them have any flavor whatever. Guy de Maupassant whiteyellowfood Anguish of suspense made men even desire the arrival of enemies. Guy de Maupassant desiremenenemy There are some delightful places in this world which have a sensual charm for the eyes. One loves them with a physical love. We people who are attracted by the countryside cherish fond memories of certain springs, certain woods, certain ponds, certain hills, which have become familiar sights and can touch our hearts like happy events. Sometimes indeed the memory goes back towards a forest glade, or a spot on a river bank or an orchard in blossom, glimpsed only once on a happy day, but preserved in our heart. Guy de Maupassant eyespringmemories Whatever you want to say, there is only one word to express it, only one verb to give it movement, only one adjective to qualify it. Guy de Maupassant adjectiveswritinggiving
