Andre Gide Quotes

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not.

Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.

It is one of life's laws that as soon as one door closes another opens. But the tragedy is we look at the closed door and disregard the open one.

When everything belongs to everyone, nobody will take care of anything.

True intelligence very readily conceives of an intelligence superior to its own; and this is why truly intelligent men are modest.

Do not think your truth can be found by anyone else.

Nothing excellent can be done without leisure.

He who wants a rose must respect her thorn.

There are many things that seem impossible only so long as one does not attempt them.

The color of truth is gray.

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.

The scholar seeks truth, the artist finds.

The truth is that as soon as we are no longer obliged to earn our living, we no longer know what to do with our life and recklessly squander it.

True eloquence forgoes eloquence.

Know that joy is rarer, more difficult, and more beautiful than sadness. Once you make this all-important discovery, you must embrace joy as a moral obligation.

There's a law in life: whenever a door closes, a new one will open.

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you.

To love the truth is to refuse to let oneself be saddened by it.

To know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one's freedom.

Most often people seek in life occasions for persisting in their opinions rather than for educating themselves.

The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.

Every instant of our lives is essentially irreplaceable: you must know this in order to concentrate on life.

The wise man is he who constantly wonders afresh.