306 Quotes by Henri Frédéric Amiel

Great men are true men, the men in whom nature has succeeded. They are not extraordinary - they are in the true order. It is the other species of men who are not what they ought to be.

Wisdom consists in rising superior both to madness and to common sense, and is lending oneself to the universal illusion without becoming its dupe.

Life is short. Be swift to love! Make haste to be kind!

Great men are the real men, in them nature has succeeded.

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

Life is short and we never have enough time for gladdening the hearts of those who travel the way with us. Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.

How true it is that our destinies are decided by nothings and that a small imprudence helped by some insignificant accident, as an acorn is fertilized by a drop of rain, may raise the trees on which perhaps we and others shall be crucified.

A modest garden contains, for those who know how to look and to wait, more instruction than a library.

A man only understands what is akin to something already existing in himself.