Henri Frederic Amiel Quotes - Page 2

Women wish to be loved without a why or a wherefore; not because they are pretty, or good, or well-bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves.

The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms.

I'm not interested in age. People who tell me their age are silly. You're as old as you feel.

Happiness gives us the energy which is the basis of health.

A thousand things advance; nine hundred and ninety nine retreat; That is progress.

To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent.

The growth and development of the soul is more important than power and glory.

True love is that which ennobles the personality, fortifies the heart, and sanctifies the existence.

The fire which enlightens is the same fire which consumes.

Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.

To be misunderstood even by those whom one loves is the cross and bitterness of life. It is the secret of that sad and melancholy smile on the lips of great men which so few understand; it is the cruelest trial reserved for self-devotion; it is what must have oftenest wrung the heart of the Son of man; and if God could suffer, it would be the wound we should be forever inflicting upon Him. He also - He above all - is the great misunderstood, the least comprehended.

There is only one way of not hating those who do us wrong, and that is by doing them good.

There is no curing a sick man who believes himself to be in health.

Society rests upon conscience, not upon science.

Almost everything comes from almost nothing.

The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. Accept life, and you must accept regret.

As it is impossible to be outside God, the best is consciously to dwell in Him.

Men prefer the false due to habit, passion, will. Preference for truth is rare. Men are ruled by their fear of truth.

The history of man is essentially zoological; it becomes human late in the day, and then only in the beautiful souls, the souls alive to justice, goodness, enthusiasm, and devotion. The angel shows itself rarely and with difficulty through the highly-organized brute.

The beautiful souls of the world have an art of saintly alchemy, by which bitterness is converted into kindness, the gall of human experience into gentleness, ingratitude into benefits, insults into pardon.

Materialism coarsens and petrifies everything, making everything vulgar, and every truth false.

Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires but according to our powers.

True humility is contentment.

A modest garden contains, for those who know how to look and to wait, more instruction than a library.

Kindness is gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us.