André Gide Quotes

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.

I do not love men: I love what devours them.

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.

Only those things are beautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason.

Do not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings.

The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

The color of truth is grey.

What would a narrative of happiness be like? All that can be described is what prepares it, and then what destroys it.

God depends on us. It is through us that God is achieved.

Fear of ridicule begets the worst cowardice.

There's no better cure for the fear of taking after one's father, than not to know who he is.

I have always thought that great artists were those who dared to confer the right of beauty on things so natural that people say on seeing them, "Why did I never realize before that that was beautiful too?

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.

Bisogna lasciare la ragione agli altri perché questo li consola di non aver altro.

To know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one's freedom

Most often people seek in life occasions for persisting in their opinions rather than for educating themselves.

I intend to bring you strength, joy, courage, perspicacity, defiance.

Know that joy is rarer, more difficult, and more beautiful than sadness. Once you make this all-important discovery, you must embrace joy as a moral obligation.