Quotes from Andre Maurois


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Memory is a great artist. For every man and for every woman it makes the recollection of his or her life a work of art and an unfaithful record.


The really great novel tends to be the exact negative of its author's life.


Lost Illusion is the undisclosed title of every novel.


In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.


To be witty is not enough. One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it.


The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion but rather to know it.


Style is the hallmark of a temperament stamped upon the material at hand.


If you value a man's regard, strive with him. As to liking, you like your newspaper - and despise it.


A marriage without conflicts is almost as inconceivable as a nation without crises.


Modesty and unselfishness - these are the virtues which men praise - and pass by.


If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really desire the things they failed to obtain.


No one can be profoundly original who does not avoid eccentricity.


Old age is far more than white hair, wrinkles, the feeling that it is too late and the game finished, that the stage belongs to the rising generations. The true evil is not the weakening of the body, but the indifference of the soul.


People are what you make them. A scornful look turns into a complete fool a man of average intelligence. A contemptuous indifference turns into an enemy a woman who, well treated, might have been an angel.


Men and women are not born inconstant: they are made so by their early amorous experiences.


The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such. All leaders whose fitness is questioned are clearly lacking in force.


Self-pity comes so naturally to all of us. The most solid happiness can be shaken by the compassion of a fool.


Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold.


Business is a combination of war and sport.


We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity - romantic love and gunpowder.