197 Quotes by Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Life is an apprenticeship to the constant renunciations, to the steady failure of our claims, our hopes, our powers, our liberty.

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.

How, then, find the courage for action? By slipping a little into unconsciousness, spontaneity, instinct which holds one to the earth and dictates the relatively good and useful. By accepting the human condition more simply, and candidly, by dreading troubles less, calculating less, hoping more.

There is only one way of not hating those who do us wrong, and that is by doing them good.

The immense majority of our species are candidates for humanity, and nothing more.

To live we must conquer incessantly, we must have the courage to be happy.

Man is a passion which brings a will into play, which works an intelligence.

We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves.