169 Quotes by Andre Maurois

To reason with poorly chosen words is like using a pair of scales with inaccurate weights.

The clear and simple words of common usage are always better than those of erudition. The jargon of the philosophers not seldom conceals an absence of thought.

A great writer has a high respect for values. His essential function is to raise life to the dignity of thought, and this he does by giving it a shape.

Novelty, the most potent of all attractions, is also the most perishable.

There are very few really brilliant men who have not had at least one madman among their ancestors.

An unsatisfied woman requires luxury, but a woman who is in love with a man will lie on a board.

Among the idle rich, boredom is one of the most common causes of unhappiness. People who have difficulty in earning their living may suffer greatly, but they are not bored. Wealthy men and women become bored when they depend upon the theater for their enjoyment instead of making their own lives interesting.

Only passions can raise a man above the level of the animal.

It is not events and the things one sees and enjoys that produce happiness, but a state of mind which can endow events with its own quality, and we must hope for the duration of this state rather than the recurrence of pleasurable events.