George Sand Quotes

“... when we are misunderstood it is always our own fault. What the reader wants most of all is to be able to grasp what we think; but you loftily refuse to comply.”

“Vanity is the most despotic and iniquitous of masters, and I can never be the slave of my own vices.”

“Heavens! whatever possesses us, here below, that we mutually torment ourselves, sourly reproach our mutual faults, and mercilessly condemn all that is not cut according to our pattern?”

“I love everything that makes up a milieu, the rolling of the carriages and the noise of the workmen in Paris, the cries of a thousand birds in the country, the movement of the ships on the waters. I love also absolute, profound silence, and, in short, I love everything that is around me, no matter where I am.”

“As far as I am concerned I would rather spend the rest of my life in prison than marry again.”

“Celebrate within yourself that wonderful treasure . . . true kindness.”

“Charity degrades those who receive it and hardens those who dispense it.”

“fretting at trouble only doubles it.”

“One never knows how much a family may grow; and when a hive is too full, and it is necessary to form a new swarm, each one thinks of carrying away his own honey.”

“a woman, when she is heroic, is not heroic by halves.”

“He who draws noble delights from sentiments of poetry is a true poet, though he has never written a line in all his life.”

“Our work can never be better than we are ourselves.”

“Travelling is like a novel: it's what happens that counts.”

“Party politics is now a real farce.”

“The old woman I shall become will be quite different from the woman I am now. Another I is beginning.”

“It is extraordinary how music sends one back into memories of the past.”

“Simplicity, a delicate silence about oneself, increases their worth and makes one love those whom one admires.”

“And I refused to make any sacrifices; for nothing on earth seemed more valuable than my peace of mind, my pleasure and my acclaim.”

“The lessons of experience are always learned too late.”

“You don't have to write to me if you don't feel like it. There's no real friendship without absolute freedom.”

“Try to keep your soul young and quivering right up to old age, and to imagine right up to the brink of death that life is only beginning. I think that is the only way to keep adding to one's talent, and one's inner happiness.”

“A child motivated by competitive ideals will grow into a man without conscience, shame, or true dignity.”

“a woman's heart has no wrinkles.”

“Let us accept truth, even when it surprises us and alters our views.”

“You may impose silence upon me, but you can not prevent me from thinking.”