Sophie Swetchine Quotes - Page 2

If grief is to be mitigated, it must either wear itself out or be shared.

When we see the shameful fortunes amassed in all quarters of the globe, are we not impelled to exclaim that Judas' thirty pieces of silver have fructified across the centuries?

To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.

We are always looking into the future, but we see only the past.

Years do not make sages; they only make old men.

Feeling loves a subdued light.

By becoming unhappy, we sometimes learn how to be less so.

We expect everything and are prepared for nothing.

There are questions so indiscreet, that they deserve neither truth nor falsehood in reply.

Only those faults which we encounter in ourselves are insufferable to us in others.

Old age is not one of the beauties of creation, but it is one of its harmonies.

There is nothing steadfast in life but our memories. We are sure of keeping intact only that which we have lost.

What is resignation? It is putting God between one's self and one's grief.

Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and the serious part of frivolous ones.

What I value most next to eternity is time.

Truth only is prolific. Error, sterile in itself, produces only by means of the portion of truth which it contains. It may have offspring, but the life which it gives, like that of the hybrid races, cannot be transmitted.

Love enters the heart unawares: takes precedence of all the emotions--or, at least, will be second to none--and even reflection becomes its accomplice. While it lives, it renders blind; and when it has struck its roots deep only itself can shake them. It reminds one of hospitality as practiced among the ancients. The stranger was received upon the threshold of the half-open door, and introduced into the sanctuary reserved for the Penates. Not until every attention had been lavished upon him did the host ask his name; and the question was sometimes deferred till the very moment of departure.

The best advice on the art of being happy is about as easy to follow as advice to be well when one is sick.

Repentance is accepted remorse.

Strength alone knows conflict, weakness is born vanquished.

Miracles are God's coups d'etat.

In a healthy state of the organism all wounds have a tendency to heal.

Let our lives be pure as snowfields, where our steps leave a mark but no stain.

In retirement, the passage of time seems accelerated. Nothing warns us of its flight. It is a wave which never murmurs, because there is no obstacle to its flow.

We deceive ourselves when we fancy that only weakness needs support. Strength needs it far more.