156 Quotes by Jules Renard

Life is what our character makes it. We fashion it, as a snail does its shell. A man can say: I never made a fortune because it is not in my character to be rich.

Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.

I have no religion,’ says Borneau, ‘but I respect the religion of others. Religion is sacred.’ Why this privilege, this immunity?... A believer creates God in his own image; if he is ugly, his God will be morally ugly. Why should moral ugliness be respectable?

When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness.

As I grow to understand life less and less I grow to love it more and more.

An egotist always resents meeting another egotist as if he alone had the right to be one.

Failure is not our only punishment for laziness; there is also the success of others.

We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it

I finally know what distinguishes man from the other beasts: financial worries.