306 Quotes by Henri Frédéric Amiel

There is no curing a sick man who believes himself to be in health.

To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius.

To be always ready a man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied.

We are always making God our accomplice so that we may legalize our own inequities.

Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.

There is an illusion of central position, justifying one's own purposes as right and everybody else¹s as wrong, and providing a proper degree of paranoia. Righteous ends, thus approved, absolve of guilt the most violent means.

Heroism is the brilliant triumph of the soul over the flesh - over fear...Heroism is the dazzling and glorious concentration of courage.

Let us be true: this is the highest maxim of art and of life, the secret of eloquence and of virtue, and of all moral authority.

Mozart has the classic purity of light and the blue ocean; Beethoven the romantic grandeur which belongs to the storms of air and sea, and while the soul of Mozart seems to dwell on the ethereal peaks of Olympus, that of Beethoven climbs shuddering the storm-beaten sides of a Sinai. Blessed be they both! Each represents a moment of the ideal life, each does us good. Our love is due to both.