Alfred de Musset Quotes about Love

Life is a sleep, love is a dream; and you have lived if you have loved.

Life is a sleep, love is a dream; and you have lived if you have loved.

Love, Dream, Sleep

The only true language in the world is a kiss.

Love, Kissing, World

... but one loves, and when one is on the brink of death, one turns around to look backward, and one says to oneself: "I have often suffered, I have sometimes been wrong, but I have loved.

Alfred de Musset

Love, Looks, Sometimes

Take love as a sober man takes wine; do not become a drunkard. If your mistress is sincere and faithful, love her for that; but if she is not, if she is merely young and beautiful, love her for that; if she is agreeable and spirituelle, love her for that; if she is none of these things but merely loves you, love her for that. Love does not come to us every day.

Alfred de Musset

Love, Beautiful, Wine

Alfred de Musset (2012). “The Confession of a Child of the Century”, p.50, tredition

I see that you believe in love such as the poets and romancers have represented... The poets represent love as the sculptors design beauty, as the musicians create melody; that is to say, endowed with an exquisite nervous organization, they gather up with discerning ardor the purest elements of life, the most beautiful lines of matter, and the most harmonious voices of nature.... To try to find in real life such love as this, eternal and absolute, is the same thing as to seek on the public squares such a woman as Venus or to expect nightingales to sing the symphonies of Beethoven.

Alfred de Musset

Love, Beautiful, Real

Alfred de Musset (2012). “The Confession of a Child of the Century”, p.46, tredition

[I]f you are truly a man, sure of yourself and confident of your strength, you may taste of life without fear and without reserve; you may be sad or joyous, deceived or respected; but be sure you are loved, for what matters the rest?

Alfred de Musset

Love, Men, What Matters

Alfred de Musset, Paul de Musset (1908). “The confession of a child of the century tr. by Kendall Warren”