Learn to… be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one’s liberty. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Thought is a kind of opium; it can intoxicate us, while still broad awake; it can make transparent the mountains and everything that exists. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven. – Henri Frederic Amiel
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. – Henri Frederic Amiel
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. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour springs and germinates no more. – Henri Frederic Amiel
In every loving woman there is a priestess of the past – a pious guardian of some affection, of which the object has disappeared. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Self-interest is but the survival of the animal in us. Humanity only begins for man with self-surrender. – Henri Frederic Amiel
An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence. – Henri Frederic Amiel
We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves. – Henri Frederic Amiel
I’m not interested in age. People who tell me their age are silly. You’re as old as you feel. – Henri Frederic Amiel
To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Sacrifice, which is the passion of great souls, has never been the law of societies. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires but according to our powers. – Henri Frederic Amiel
For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Our systems, perhaps, are nothing more than an unconscious apology for our faults, a gigantic scaffolding whose object is to hide from us our favorite sin. – Henri Frederic Amiel
The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Materialism coarsens and petrifies everything, making everything vulgar, and every truth false. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion. – Henri Frederic Amiel
