Agnes Repplier People Quotations

People with theories of life are, perhaps, the most relentless of their kind, for no time or place is sacred from their devastating elucidations.

People fed on sugared praises cannot be expected to feel an appetite for the black broth of honest criticism.

Letters form a by-path of literature, a charming, but occasional, retreat for people of cultivated leisure.

People who cannot recognize a palpable absurdity are very much in the way of civilization.

There are people who balk at small civilities on account of their manifest insincerity. ... It is better and more logical to accept all the polite phraseology which facilitates intercourse, and contributes to the sweetness of life. If we discarded the formal falsehoods which are the currency of conversation, we should not be one step nearer the vital things of truth.

The gospel of cheerfulness, I had almost said the gospel of amusement, is preached by people who lack experience to people who lack vitality. There is a vague impression that the world would be a good world if it were only happy, that it would be happy if it were amused, and that it would be amused if plenty of artificial recreation - that recreation for which we are now told every community stands responsible - were provided for its entertainment.

What strange impulse is it which induces otherwise truthful people to say they like music when they do not, and thus expose themselves to hours of boredom?

People who pin their faith to a catchword never feel the necessity of understanding anything.