Andre Maurois Quotations | Page 2

The need to express oneself in writing springs from a mal-adjustment to life, or from an inner conflict which the adolescent (or the grown man) cannot resolve in action. Those to whom action comes as easily as breathing rarely feel the need to break loose from the real, to rise above, and describe it... I do not mean that it is enough to be maladjusted to become a great writer, but writing is, for some, a method of resolving a conflict, provided they have the necessary talent.

We don't love a woman for what she says, we like what she says because we love her.

[...] marriage is one thing, and love is another...You need to have a solid canvas; nobody stops you to weave the arabesques...

He who wants to do everything will never do anything.

There are deserts in every life, and the desert must be depicted if we are to give a fair and complete idea of the country.

Inspiration in matters of taste will not come twice.

Happiness flourishes where there is happiness.

Few are they who have never had a chance to achieve happiness- and fewer those who have taken that chance.

Advice is always a confession.

If, in New York, you arrive late for an appointment, say, "I took a taxi".

In a discussion, the difficulty lies, not in being able to defend your opinion, but to know it.

Sincerity is glass, discretion is diamond.

Learning is nothing without cultivated manners, but when the two are combined in a woman, you have one of the most exquisite products of civilization.

Either the soul is immortal and we shall not die, or it perishes with the flesh, and we shall not know that we are dead. Live, then, as if you were eternal.

Above all things, never be afraid. The enemy who forces you to retreat is himself afraid of you at that very moment.

To desire to be perpetually in the society of a pretty woman until the end of one's days, is as if, because one likes good wine, one wished always to have one's mouth full of it.

Every ten years you should delete from your mind a few ideas that your experience has proven to be false.

Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. We lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year's time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody. No, let us devote our life to worthwhile actions and feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings.

We can talk frankly about our defects only to those who recognize our qualities

The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such.

Art is an effort to create, beside the real world, a more human world

Talk of nothing but business, and dispatch that business quickly

In literature, as in love, we are astonished at the choice made by other people.