86 Quotes by Edmond Rostand

And if kisses in these words could travel too, Madam, you’d read this letter with your lips.

No, In fairy tales When to the ill-starred Prince the lady says ‘I love you!’ all his ugliness fades fast But I remain the same, up to the last!

Well when I write my book, and tell the tale of my adventures – all these little stars that shake out of my cloak – I must save those to use for asterisks!

I know that in the end you’ll overwhelm me, but I’ll still fight you as long as there’s a breath in my body... Yes, you’ve robbed me of everything: the laurels of glory, the roses of love! But there’s one thing you can’t take away from me. When I go to meet God this evening, and doff my hat before the lofty gates, my salute will sweep the blue threshold of heaven, because I’ll still have one thing intact, without a stain, something that I’ll take with me in spite of you: My white plume.

To joke in the face of danger is the supreme politeness, a delicate refusal to cast oneself as a tragic hero; panache is therefore a timid heroism, like the smile with which one excuses one’s superiority.

A man stands straighter under hostile eyes.

And what is a kiss, specifically? A pledge properly sealed, a promise seasoned to taste, a vow stamped with the immediacy of a lip, a rosy circle drawn around the verb ‘to love.’ A kiss is a message too intimate for the ear, infinity captured in the bee’s brief visit to a flower, secular communication with an aftertaste of heaven, the pulse rising from the heart to utter its name on a lover’s lip: ‘Forever.

Anyone who has seen her smile has known perfection. She instills grace in every common thing and divinity in every careless gesture.

She is a mortal danger to all men. She is beautiful without knowing it, and possesses charms that she’s not even aware of. She is like a trap set by nature – a sweet perfumed rose in whose petals Cupid lurks in ambush!