223 Quotes by Stendhal

Such are death, life, eternity- simple phenomena for those with organs of sense vast enough to comprehend them...

The presence of danger inspires a sensible man with genius, raising him, so to speak, above himself. In the case of the man of imagination, it inspires him with romances, which may indeed be bold, but which are frequently absurd.

Nothing is so odious to the mediocre as mental superiority. There lies the source of hatred in the world of today.

It was the destiny of Napoleon – would it one day be his?

Exalted by a sentiment of which she was proud, and that overcame all her arrogance, she was reluctant to let a moment of her life go by without occupying it with some remarkable deed.

In another moment she had torn herself from his arms, lighted the candle, and Julien had all the difficulty in the world in preventing her from cutting off all one side of her hair. “I wish to remind myself,” she told him, “that I am your servant: should my accursed pride ever make me forget it, show me these locks and say: “There is no question now of love, we are not concerned with the emotion that your heart may be feeling at this moment, you have sworn to obey, obey upon your honour.

There’s one convenience about absolute power, that it sanctifies everything in the eyes of the people.

What woman alive today would not be horrified to touch the head of her decapitated lover?’ Madame.

The Duchess’s voice, and its tone, were as strange as her appearance. This tone, stripped of all passion, of all human concern, of all anger, made the Count turn pale; it reminded him of the demeanour of one of his friends who, some months earlier, on the point of death, and having already received the sacraments, had asked to see him.