Henri Frederic Amiel Quotes - Page 3

Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour springs and germinates no more.

What we call little things are merely the causes of great things.

Doubt of the reality of love ends by making us doubt everything.

Man becomes man only by his intelligence, but he is man only by his heart.

A belief is not true simply because it is useful.

The best path through life is the highway.

Charm is the quality in others that makes us more satisfied with ourselves.

Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.

Let us be true: this is the highest maxim of art and of life, the secret of eloquence and of virtue, and of all moral authority.

Never to tire, never to grow cold; to be patient, sympathetic, tender; to look for the budding flower and the opening heart; to hope always; like God, to love always--this is duty.

Put personal ambition away from you, and then you will find consolation in living or in dying, whatever may happen to you.

Philosophy means the complete liberty of the mind, and therefore independence of all social, political or religious prejudice... It loves one thing only... truth.

There is an illusion of central position, justifying one's own purposes as right and everybody else¹s as wrong, and providing a proper degree of paranoia. Righteous ends, thus approved, absolve of guilt the most violent means.

Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven.

Joy is the vital air of the soul.

Will localizes us, thought universalizes us.

Everything you need for better future and success has already been written. And guess what? All you have to do is go to the library.

Time and space are fragments of the infinite for the use of finite creatures.

Time is but the space between our memories; as soon as we cease to perceive this space, time has disappeared.

To live we must conquer incessantly, we must have the courage to be happy.

Clever people will recognize and tolerate nothing but cleverness.

A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied; he must know how to disengage what is essential from the detail in which it is enwrapped, for everything cannot be equally considered; in a word, he must be able to simplify his duties, his business and his life.

Blessed be childhood, which brings down something of heaven into the midst of our rough earthliness.

The test of every religious, political, or educational system, is the man which it forms. If a system injures the intelligence it is bad. If it injures the character it is vicious. If it injures the conscience it is criminal.

Whatever impatience we may feel towards our neighbor, and whatever indignation our race may rouse in us, we are chained one to another, and, companions in labour and misfortune, have everything to lose by mutual recrimination and reproach. Let us be silent as to each other's weakness, helpful, tolerant, many, tender towards each other! Or, if we cannot feel tenderness, may we at least feel pity!