58 Quotes by Francois Mauriac

What a fool she was ever to have imagined that there might be some place in the world where she could sink to the earth with the knowledge that there were people round her who understood, who perhaps even admired and loved her! She was fated to carry loneliness about with her as a leper carries his scabs. 'No one can do anything for me: no one can do anything against me.

No man can bear a child's cross.

The effort of explaining, even of expressing himself, had become, with the years, more and more terrifying to him. Whether from laziness or from inability to find the right words, he had developed almost a passion for silence.

To love someone is to see a miracle invisible to others.

I've always had a passion for tearing the bandages from other people's eyes. I've always insisted that those round me should see things as they are. I suppose it is that I need companionship in despair. I can't understand not despairing.

She [Thérèse] believed that the sublime splendour of ordinary existence was hidden from those who lived embedded in it, that for them the bread of every day must lose its savour. Only hearts like hers, fated to bear an infinite frustration, could feed on its intolerable absence.

Le mystère de la chair est le mystère du salut.

It never occurs to one to think whether she is pretty or ugly. One just surrenders to her charm.

Ma come spiegarle?... Non capirebbe egualmente che io son piena di me stessa, che mi occupo tutta. Anna non aspetta che dei figli per annientarsi in loro, come ha fatto sua madre, come fanno tutte le donne della famiglia.