Background Image
An Experience Teaches Only The Good Observer; But Far From Seeking A Lesson In It, Everyone Looks For An Argument In Experience, And Everyone Interprets The Conclusion In His Own Way.
-Andre Gide
Please Wait....
Translating....

An Experience Teaches Only

Andre Gide
An Experience Teaches Only The Good Observer; But Far From Seeking A Lesson In It, Everyone Looks For An Argument In Experience, And Everyone Interprets The Conclusion In His Own Way.
Views: 3
Topic
Understanding
Experience
Looks
More From Andre Gide
Do Not Scorn Little Victories.
Victory
Littles
Scorn
It Is Only In Adventure That Some People Succeed In Knowing Themselves - In Finding Themselves.
Life
Travel
Adventure
Old Hands Soil, It Seems, Whatever They Caress, But They Too Have Their Beauty When They Are Joined In Prayer. Young Hands Were Made For Caresses And The Sheathing Of Love. It Is A Pity To Make Them Join Too Soon.
Love
Prayer
Hands
There Is No Feeling So Simple That It Is Not Immediately Complicated And Distorted By Introspection.
Simple
Feelings
Complicated
True Kindness Presupposes The Faculty Of Imagining As One's Own The Suffering And Joys Of Others.
Kindness
Empathy
Joy
When I Cease To Be Indignant I Will Have Begun My Old Age.
Age
Indignant
Old Age
It Is Not Becoming To Lay To Virtue The Weariness Of Old Age.
Age
Becoming
Virtue
It Is Easier To Lead Men To Combat, Stirring Up Their Passion, Than To Restrain Them And Direct Them Toward The Patient Labors Of Peace.
Leadership
Patience
Peace
Obsessions Of The Orient, Of The Desert, Of Its Ardor And Its Emptiness, Of The Shadows Of Palm Gardens, Of The Garments White And Wide - Obsessions Where The Senses Go Berserk, Where Nerves Are Exasperated, And Which Made Me, At The Onset Of Each Night, Believe Sleep Impossible.
Believe
Sleep
Night
It Is Essential To Persuade The Soldier That Those He Is Being Urged To Massacre Are Bandits Who Do Not Deserve To Live; Before Killing Other Good, Decent Fellows Like Himself, His Gun Would Fall From His Hands.
Fall
Army
Gun
The Nationalist Has A Broad Hatred And A Narrow Love.
Hatred
Broads
Nations
In Other People's Company I Felt I Was Dull, Gloomy, Unwelcome, At Once Bored And Boring.
People
Bored
Awkward
Most Often It Happens That One Attributes To Others Only The Feelings Of Which One Is Capable Oneself.
Feelings
Emotion
Attributes
The Capacity To Get Free Is Nothing; The Capacity To Be Free Is The Task.
Tasks
Capacity
Believe In Your Strength And Your Vision. Learn To Repeat To Yourself, 'it All Depends On Me'.
Believe
Responsibility
Vision
Through Fear Of Resembling One Another, Through Horror Of Having To Submit, Through Uncertainty As Well, Through Skepticism And Complexity, There Is A Multitude Of Individual Little Beliefs For The Triumph Of Strange Little Individuals.
Littles
Triumph
Belief
An Unprejudiced Mind Is Probably The Rarest Thing In The World; To Nonprejudice I Attach The Greatest Value.
Mind
Prejudice
World
Fear Of Ridicule Begets The Worst Cowardice.
Fear
Cowardice
Worst
To Be Sure, Theory Is Useful. But Without Warmth Of Heart And Without Love It Bruises The Very Ones It Claims To Save.
Heart
Bruises
Claims
Only Fools Don't Contradict Themselves
Fool
Complete Possession Is Proved Only By Giving. All You Are Unable To Give Possesses You.
Wise
Kindness
Helping Others
Never Have I Been Able To Settle In Life. Always Seated Askew, As If On The Arm Of A Chair; Ready To Get Up, To Leave.
Arms
Able
Settling
Everything Has Been Said Before, But Since Nobody Listens We Have To Keep Going Back And Beginning All Over Again.
Communication
Learning
Knowledge
The Itch Is A Mean, Unconfessable, Ridiculous Malady; One Can Pity Someone Who Is Suffering ; Someone Who Wants To Scratch Himself Makes One Laugh.
Mean
Laughing
Suffering
The Artist Who Is After Success Lets Himself Be Influenced By The Public. Generally Such An Artist Contributes Nothing New, For The Public Acclaims Only What It Already Knows, What It Recognizes.
Artist
Acclaim
Nothing New
From The Satisfaction Of Desire There May Arise, Accompanying Joy And As It Were Sheltering Behind It, Something Not Unlike Despair.
Joy
Despair
Desire
Understanding Is The Beginning Of Approving.
Understanding
Approving
Prejudices Are The Props Of Civilization.
Civilization
Justice
Prejudice
Sadness Is A State Of Sin.
Sadness
Sin
States
Art Is A Collaboration Between God And The Artist, And The Less The Artist Does The Better.
Spiritual
Art
Creative Collaboration
What I Dislike Least In My Former Self Are The Moments Of Prayer.
Prayer
Self
Moments
Great Authors Are Admirable In This Respect: In Every Generation They Make For Disagreement. Through Them We Become Aware Of Our Differences.
Respect
Differences
Generations
Actions Whose Motives He Cannot Understand That Is, Actions Not Prompted By The Hope Of Profit.
Action
Profit
Motive
The Want Of Logic Annoys. Too Much Logic Bores. Life Eludes Logic, And Everything That Logic Alone Constructs Remains Artificial And Forced.
Bores You
Annoyed
Literature
Only Those Things Are Beautiful Which Are Inspired By Madness And Written By Reason.
Love
Cute
Beautiful
He Who Wants A Rose Must Respect Her Thorn.
Respect
Rose
Wildflowers
The Work Of Art Is The Exaggeration Of An Idea.
Art
Ideas
Exaggeration
The Individual Never Asserts Himself More Than When He Forgets Himself.
Inspirational
Forget
Forget Him
The Reasons That Drive Me To Write Are Many And The Most Important Are The Most Secret, I Think. Perhaps Most Of All This: To Put Something Out Of Death's Reach.
Writing
Thinking
Secret
Solitude Is Bearable Only With God.
Solitude
Bearable
The Novelist Does Not Long To See The Lion Eat Grass. He Realizes That One And The Same God Created The Wolf And The Lamb, Then Smiled, “seeing That His Work Was Good.”
Long
Novelists
Doe
A Work Of Art Is An Exaggeration.
Art
Art Is
Exaggeration
How Do You Know That The Fruit Is Ripe? Simply Because It Leaves The Branch.
Maturity
Branches
Fruit
The Anxiety We Have For The Figure We Cut, For Our Personage, Is Constantly Cropping Out. We Are Showing Off And Are Often More Concerned With Making A Display Than With Living. Whoever Feels Observed Observes Himself.
Cutting
Vanity
Anxiety
Nothing Is So Silly As The Expression Of A Man Who Is Being Complimented.
Stupid
Silly
Men
Know Thyself. A Maxim As Pernicious As It Is Ugly. Whoever Studies Himself Arrest His Own Development. A Caterpillar Who Seeks To Know Himself Would Never Become A Butterfly.
Life
Success
Butterfly
I Would Like The Events Never To Be Told Directly By The Author, But Rather To Be Introduced (and Several Times, From Various Angles) By Those Among The Characters On Whom They Will Have Had Any Effect. I Would Like Those Events, In The Account They Will Make Of Them, To Appear Slightly Distorted; A Kind Of Interest Stems, For The Reader, From The Simple Fact That He Should Need To Restore. The Story Requires His Collaboration In Order To Properly Take Shape.
Reading
Character
Simple
Understand That The Only Possession Of Any Value Is Life.
Possession
Values
Life Never Presents Us With Anything Which May Not Be Looked Upon As A Fresh Starting Point, No Less Than As A Termination.
Life
May
Fresh Start
Those Who Have Never Been Ill Are Incapable Of Real Sympathy For A Great Many Misfortunes
Sympathy
Real
Great Men
When Intelligent People Pride Themselves On Not Understanding, It Is Quite Natural They Should Succeed Better Than Fools.
Pride
Thoughtful
Intelligent
Be Faithful To That Which Exists Nowhere But In Yourself- And Thus Make Yourself Indispensable.
Success
Faithful
Being Faithful
The Most Important Things To Say Are Those Which Often I Did Not Think Necessary For Me To Say - Because They Were Too Obvious.
Broken Heart
Breakup
Thinking
What Another Would Have Done As Well As You, Do Not Do It. What Another Would Have Said As Well As You, Do Not Say It; What Another Would Have Written As Well, Do Not Write It. Be Faithful To That Which Exists Nowhere But In Yourself - And Thus Make Yourself Indispensable.
Change
Being Yourself
Writing
The Most Gifted Natures Are Perhaps Also The Most Trembling.
Nature
Literature
Trembling
Laws And Rules Of Conduct Are For The State Of Childhood; Education Is An Emancipation.
Education
Law
Childhood
The Finest Virtues Can Become Deformed With Age. The Precise Mind Becomes Finicky; The Thrifty Man, Miserly; The Cautious Man, Timorous; The Man Of Imagination, Fanciful. Even Perseverance Ends Up In A Sort Of Stupidity. Just As, On The Other Hand, Being Too Willing To Understand Too Many Opinions, Too Diverse Ways Of Seeing, Constancy Is Lost And The Mind Goes Astray In A Restless Fickleness.
Perseverance
Men
Hands
We Live Counterfeit Lives In Order To Resemble The Idea We First Had Of Ourselves.
Order
Ideas
Identity
Long Only For What You Have.
Long
Art Begins With Resistance - At The Point Where Resistance Is Overcome. No Human Masterpiece Has Ever Been Created Without Great Labor.
Art
Overcoming
Resistance
Please Do Not Understand Me Too Quickly.
Understand Me
Please
The Abominable Effort To Take One’s Sins With One To Paradise.
Effort
Paradise
Sin
Throw Away My Book: You Must Understand That It Represents Only One Of A Thousand Attitudes. You Must Find Your Own. If Someone Else Could Have Done Something As Well As You, Don’t Do It. If Someone Else Could Have Said Something As Well As You, Don’t Say It—or Written Something As Well As You, Don’t Write It. Grow Fond Only Of That Which You Can Find Nowhere But In Yourself, And Create Out Of Yourself, Impatiently Or Patiently, Ah! That Most Irreplaceable Of Beings.
Attitude
Book
Writing
Whoever Starts Out Toward The Unknown Must Consent To Venture Alone.
Single
Being Single
Venture
The Truth Is That As Soon As We Are No Longer Obliged To Earn Our Living, We No Longer Know What To Do With Our Life And Recklessly Squander It.
Truth Is
Knows
Obliged
In Order To Judge Properly, One Must Get Away Somewhat From What One Is Judging, After Having Loved It. This Is True Of Countries, Of Persons, And Of Oneself.
Country
Order
Judging
Pay Attention Only To The Form; Emotion Will Come Spontaneously To Inhabit It. A Perfect Dwelling Always Finds An Inhabitant. The Artist's Business Is To Build The Dwelling; As For The Inhabitant, It Is Up To The Reader To Provide Him.
Dwelling Place
Perfect
Attention
We Should Enjoy This Summer, Flower By Flower, As If It Were To Be The Last One We’ll See.
Summer
Flower
Lasts
At Times Is It Seems That I Am Living My Life Backward, And That At The Approach Of Old Age My Real Youth Will Begin. My Soul Was Born Covered With Wrinkles. Wrinkles My Ancestors And Parents Most Assiduously Put There And That I Had The Greatest Trouble Removing.
Birthday
Real
Wrinkles
Every Instant Of Our Lives Is Essentially Irreplaceable: You Must Know This In Order To Concentrate On Life.
Order
Life Is
Irreplaceable
To What A Degree The Same Past Can Leave Different Marks - And Especially Admit Of Different Interpretations.
Wise
Past
Degrees
The Most Beautiful Things Are Those That Madness Prompts And Reason Writes.
Beautiful
Writing
Madness
Nothing Excellent Can Be Done Without Leisure.
Done
Leisure
Excellent
There Is No Work Of Art That Is Without Short Cuts.
Art
Cutting
Works Of Art
The Very Act Of Sacrifice Magnifies The One Who Sacrifices Himself To The Point Where His Sacrifice Is Much More Costly To Humanity Than Would Have Been The Loss Of Those For Whom He Is Sacrificing Himself. But In His Abnegation Lies The Secret Of His Grandeur.
Lying
Loss
Sacrifice
A Straight Path Never Leads Anywhere Except To The Objective.
Inspiration
Objectivity
Goal
If One Could Recover The Uncompromising Spirit Of One's Youth, One's Greatest Indignation Would Be For What One Has Become.
Inspirational
Would Be
Spirit
Man Is More Interesting Than Men. God Made Him And Not Them In His Image. Each One Is More Precious Than All.
God
Men
Interesting
Wisdom Comes Not From Reason But From Love.
Reason
Don't Think That Your Truth Could Be Found By Someone Else.
Thinking
Found
If Life Were Organized, There Would Be No Need For Art.
Art
Would Be
Needs
Most Often People Seek In Life Occasions For Persisting In Their Opinions Rather Than For Educating Themselves.
People
Opinion
Occasions
Envying Another Man's Happiness Is Madness; You Wouldn't Know What To Do With It If You Had It.
Men
Madness
Knows
Do Not Do What Someone Else Could Do As Well As You. Do Not Say, Do Not Write What Someone Else Could Say, Could Write As Well As You. Care For Nothing In Yourself But What You Feel Exists Nowhere Else. And, Out Of Yourself Create, Impatiently Or Patiently, The Most Irreplaceable Of Beings.
Writing
Care
Irreplaceable
"let The Dead Bury The Dead." There Is Not A Single Word Of Christ To Which The Christian Religion Has Paid Less Attention.
Christian
Art
Philosophy
The Truth Is, I Hoped The Cure Would Dislike Me. I Tried To Think Of Disagreeable Things To Say To Him -- I Could Hit On Nothing That Wasn't Charming. It's Wonderful How Hard I Find It Not To Be Fascinating.
Thinking
Dislike Me
Wonderful
What Eludes Logic Is The Most Precious Element In Us, And One Can Draw Nothing From A Syllogism That The Mind Has Not Put There In Advance.
Mind
Elements
Elude
To Read A Writer Is For Me Not Merely To Get An Idea Of What He Says, But To Go Off With Him And Travel In His Company.
Motivational
Travel
Reading
Often The Best In Us Springs From The Worst In Us.
Spring
Worst
Nothing Prevents Happiness Like The Memory Of Happiness.
Memories
Adversity
Problem
Then You Think That One Can Keep A Hopeless Love In One's Heart For So Long As That?...and That Life Can Breathe Upon It Every Day, Without Extinguishing It?
Heart
Thinking
Long
One Should Want Only One Thing And Want It Constantly. Then One Is Sure Of Getting It. But I Desire Everything, And Consequently Get Nothing.
Desire
Want
Should
The True Hypocrite Is The One Who Ceases To Perceive His Deception, The One Who Lies With Sincerity.
Truth
Lying
Hypocrite
I Owe Much To My Friends; But, All Things Considered, It Strikes Me That I Owe Even More To My Enemies. The Real Person Springs Life Under A Sting Even Better Than Under A Caress.
Life
Spring
Real
But Can One Still Make Resolutions When One Is Over Forty? I Live According To Twenty-year-old Habits.
New Year
Holiday
Years
The Color Of Truth Is Gray.
Color
Intellectual
Intelligence
It Is One Of Life's Laws That As Soon As One Door Closes Another Opens. But The Tragedy Is We Look At The Closed Door And Disregard The Open One.
Doors
Law
Tragedy
There Are Very Few Monsters Who Warrant The Fear We Have Of Them.
Inspirational
Fear
Halloween
The Young People Who Come To Me In The Hope Of Hearing Me Utter A Few Memorable Maxims Are Quite Disappointed. Aphorisms Are Not My Forte, I Say Nothing But Banalities.... I Listen To Them And They Go Away Delighted.
Memorable
People
Listening
To Love The Truth Is To Refuse To Let Oneself Be Saddened By It.
Truth
Saddened
Refuse
When You Have Nothing To Say, Or To Hide, There Is No Need To Be Prudent.
Needs
Prudent
Prudence
The Difficulty Comes From This, That Christianity (christian Orthodoxy) Is Exclusive And That Belief In Its Truth Excludes Belief In Any Other Truth. It Does Not Absorb; It Repulses.
Christian
Doe
Orthodoxy
In Hell There Is No Other Punishment Than To Begin Over And Over Again The Tasks Left Unfinished In Your Lifetime.
Punishment
Tasks
Hell
Too Chaste A Youth Leads To A Dissolute Old Age.
Age
Youth
Chaste
Man's First And Greatest Victory Must Be Won Against The Gods.
Men
Greatest Victory
Victory
I Intend To Bring You Strength, Joy, Courage, Perspicacity, Defiance.
Joy
Defiance
There Is No Prejudice That The Work Of Art Does Not Finally Overcome.
Art
Overcoming
Doe
Great Minds Tend Toward Banality. It Is The Noblest Effort Of Individualism. But It Implies A Sort Of Modesty, Which Is So Rare That It Is Scarcely Found Except In The Greatest, Or In Beggars.
Effort
Mind
Genius
Man: The Most Complex Of Beings, And Thus The Most Dependent Of Beings. On All That Made You Up, You Depend.
Men
Made
Dependent
I Do Not Love Men: I Love What Devours Them.
Men
Mankind
You Have To Let Other People Be Right' Was His Answer To Their Insults. 'it Consoles Them For Not Being Anything Else.
People
Answers
Insult
Oh, Would That My Mind Could Let Fall Its Dead Ideas, As The Tree Does Its Withered Leaves!
Motivational
Change
Fall
One Is Always Wrong To Open A Conversation With The Devil, For, However He Goes About It, He Always Insists Upon Having The Last Word.
Devil
Lasts
Conversation
The True Return To Nature Is The Definitive Return To The Elements-death.
Nature
Elements
Return
There Are Admirable Potentialities In Every Human Being.
Admirable
Humans
Human Beings
Each Of Us Really Understands In Others Only Those Feelings He Is Capable Of Producing Himself.
Understanding
Feelings
Capable
The Belief That Becomes Truth For Me... Is That Which Allows Me The Best Use Of My Strength, The Best Means Of Putting My Virtues Into Action.
Faith
Mean
Use
The Miser Puts His Gold Pieces Into A Coffer; But As Soon As The Coffer Is Closed, It Is As If It Were Empty.
Gold
Pieces
Empty
A Caterpillar Who Seeks To Know Himself Would Never Become A Butterfly
Butterfly
Know Thyself
Caterpillars
What Would There Be In A Story Of Happiness? Only What Prepares It, Only What Destroys It Can Be Told.
Writing
Literature
Stories
There Are Many Things That Seem Impossible Only So Long As One Does Not Attempt Them.
Life
Long
Doe
A Desire For Truth Is By No Means A Need For Certitude And It Would Be Unwise To Confuse One With The Other.
Honesty
Mean
Desire
Mozart's Joy Is Made Of Serenity, And A Phrase Of His Music Is Like A Calm Thought; His Simplicity Is Merely Purity. It Is A Crystalline Thing In Which All The Emotions Play A Role, But As If Already Celestially Transposed. Moderation Consists In Feeling Emotions As The Angels Do.
Angel
Play
Joy
The Most Beaten Paths Are Certainly The Surest, But Do Not Hope To Start Much Game On Them.
Games
Path
Beaten
So Long As We Live Among Men, Let Us Cherish Humanity.
Inspirational
Honesty
Integrity
I Wished For Nothing Beyond Her Smile, And To Walk With Her Thus, Hand In Hand, Along A Sun Warmed, Flower Bordered Path.
Love
Flower
Hands
The Most Decisive Actions Of Life Are Most Often Unconsidered Actions.
Life
Literature
Action
Obtain From Yourself All That Makes Complaining Useless. No Longer Implore From Others What You Yourself Can Obtain.
Complaining
Useless
True Intelligence Very Readily Conceives Of An Intelligence Superior To Its Own; And This Is Why Truly Intelligent Men Are Modest.
Men
Intelligent
Modest
Profound Optimism Is Always On The Side Of The Tortured.
Profound
Optimism
Sides
Not Everyone Can Be An Orphan.
Literature
Orphan
Woe To These People Who Have No Appetite For The Very Dish That Their Age Serves Up.
People
Age
Woe
The Loveliest Creations Of Men Are Persistently Painful. What Would Be The Description Of Happiness? Nothing, Except What Prepares And Then What Destroys It.
Men
Creation Of Man
Would Be
The Sole Art That Suits Me Is That Which, Rising From Unrest, Tends Toward Serenity.
Art
Serenity
Rising
Be Faithful To That Which Exists Within Yourself.
Inspirational
Life
Beautiful
Welcome Anything That Comes To You, But Do Not Long For Anything Else.
Life
Change
Long
Chastity More Rarely Follows Fear, Or A Resolution, Or A Vow, Than It Is The Mere Effect Of Lack Of Appetite And, Sometimes Even, Of Distaste.
Sometimes
Vow
Resolution
It Is The Special Quality Of Love Not To Be Able To Remain Stationary, To Be Obliged To Increase Under Pain Of Diminishing.
Love
Pain
Happy Valentines Day
Generally Among Intelligent People Are Found Nothing But Paralytics And Among Men Of Action Nothing But Fools.
Intelligent
Men
People
It Is Often So: The Harder It Is To Hear, The More A Truth Is Worth Saying.
Truth Is
Harder
It Seems To Me That Had I Not Known Dostoevsky Or Nietzsche Or Freud Or X Or Z, I Should Have Thought Just As I Did, And That I Found In Them Rather An Authorization Than An Awakening. Above All, They Taught Me To Cease Doubting, To Cease Fearing My Thoughts, And To Let Those Thoughts Lead Me To Those Lands That Were Not Uninhabitable Because After All I Found Them Already There .
Should Have
Land
Doubt
To Win Ones Joy Through Struggle Is Better Than To Yield To Melancholy.
Inspirational
Happiness
Struggle
It Is Not Always By Plugging Away At A Difficulty And Sticking To It That One Overcomes It; Often It Is By Working On The One Next To It. Some Things And Some People Have To Be Approached Obliquely, At An Angle.
Life
Work
Failure
The Great Artist Is One Whom Constraint Exalts, For Whom The Obstacle Is A Springboard.
Artist
Greatness
Obstacles
The Greatest Intelligence Is Precisely The One That Suffers The Most From Its Own Limitations.
Wisdom
Intelligence
Suffering
Though A Revolution May Call Itself "national," It Always Marks The Victory Of A Single Party.
Party
Victory
May
They Establish Distinctions And Reserves Which I Cannot Apply To Myself, For I Exist Only As A Whole; My Only Claim Is To Be Natural, And The Pleasure I Feel In An Action, I Take As A Sign That I Ought To Do It.
Action
Pleasure
Natural
There's A Law In Life: Whenever A Door Closes, A New One Will Open.
Doors
Law
Enduring Fame Is Promised Only To Those Writers Who Can Offer To Successive Generations A Substance Constantly Renewed; For Every Generation Arrives Upon The Scene With Its Own Particular Hunger.
Writing
Generations
Substance
Nothing Is Good For Everyone, But Only Relatively To Some People.
Inspirational
People
Opinion
I Find Just As Much Profit In Cultivating My Hates As My Loves.
Hate
Hatred
Profit
I Have No Use For Knowledge That Has Not Been Preceded By A Sensation
Use
Sensations
Sadness Is Almost Never Anything But A Form Of Fatigue.
Sadness
Self Pity
Misery
No Encounter Occured That Day, And I Was Glad Of It; I Took Out Of My Pocket A Little Homer I Had Not Opened Since Leaving Marseilles, Reread Three Lines Of The Odyssey, Learned Them By Heart; Then, Finding Sufficient Sustenance In Their Rhythm And Reveling In Them At Leisure, I Closed The Book And Remained, Trembling, More Alive Than I Had Thought Possible, My Mind Numb With Happiness.
Book
Heart
Leaving
The World Will Be Saved By One Or Two People.
Future
Two
People
The Wise Man Is He Who Constantly Wonders Afresh.
Wise
Men
Wonder
No Theory Is Good Unless It Permits, Not Rest, But The Greatest Work. No Theory Is Good Except On Condition That One Use It To Go On Beyond.
Goes On
Literature
Use
Too Chaste An Adolescence Makes For A Dissolute Old Age. It Is Doubtless Easier To Give Up Something One Has Known Than Something One Imagines.
Giving Up
Age
Imagine
The Public Always Prefers To Be Reassured. There Are Those Whose Job This Is. There Are Only Too Many.
Jobs
People
How Much More Sensuality Invites To Art Than Does Sentimentality.
Art
Doe
Sensuality
It Is Unthinkable For A Frenchman To Arrive At Middle Age Without Having Syphilis And The Cross Of The Legion Of Honor.
Honor
Age
Literature
Sin Is Whatever Obscures The Soul.
Life
Soul
Sin
'therefore' Is A Word The Poet Must Not Know.
Sarcastic
Poetry
Poetic
Let Every Emotion Be Capable Becoming An Intoxication To You. If What You Eat Fails To Make You Drunk, It Is Because You Are Not Hungry Enough.
Drunk
Becoming
Emotion
It Is With Fine Sentiments That Bad Literature Is Made. Descend To The Bottom Of The Well If You Wish To See The Stars.
Stars
Wish
Literature
It Is Good To Follow One's Own Bent, So Long As It Leads Upward.
Long
Literature
Bent
One Doesn't Discover New Lands Without Consenting To Lose Sight, For A Very Long Time, Of The Shore.
Inspirational
Motivational
Change
Every Perfect Action Is Accompanied By Pleasure. By That You Can Tell What You Ought To Do.
Perfect
Action
Pleasure
God Lies Ahead. I Convince Myself And Constantly Repeat To Myself That: He Depends On Us. It Is Through Us That God Is Achieved.
God
Lying
Convince
Do Not Think Your Truth Can Be Found By Anyone Else.
Thinking
Found
Without Mysticism Man Can Achieve Nothing Great.
Men
Spirituality
Achieve
Christianity, Above All, Consoles; But There Are Naturally Happy Souls Who Do Not Need Consolation. Consequently Christianity Begins By Making Such Souls Unhappy, For Otherwise It Would Have No Power Over Them.
Christian
Soul
Atheism
Nothing Blocks Happiness Like Happiness Remembered.
Block
Remembered
The Thing I Am Most Aware Of Is My Limits. And This Is Natural; For I Never, Or Almost Never, Occupy The Middle Of My Cage; My Whole Being Surges Toward The Bars.
Art
Philosophy
History
Our Judgements About Things Vary According To The Time Left Us To Live -that We Think Is Left Us To Live.
Maturity
Thinking
Judgement
One Completely Overcomes Only What One Assimilates.
Acceptance
Overcoming
I Am Lost If I Attempt To Take Count Of Chronology. When I Think Over The Past, I Am Like A Person Whose Eyes Cannot Properly Measure Distances And Is Liable To Think Things Extremely Remote Which On Examination Prove To Be Quite Near.
Distance
Eye
Past
It Is Now, And In This World, That We Must Live.
World
This World
The Wise Man Is Astonished By Anything.
Wise
Wisdom
Men
Believe Those Who Seek The Truth, Doubt Those Who Find It; Doubt All, But Do Not Doubt Yourself.
Truth
Believe
Profound
With Each Book You Write You Should Lose The Admirers You Gained With The Previous One.
Book
Writing
Admirer
It Is Only Through Restraint That Man Can Manage Not To Suppress Himself.
Men
Moderation
Restraint
An Artist Cannot Get Along Without A Public; And When The Public Is Absent, What Does He Do? He Invents It, And Turning His Back On His Age, He Looks Toward The Future For What The Present Denies.
Art
Age
Doe
Society Knows Perfectly Well How To Kill A Man And Has Methods More Subtle Than Death
Men
Society
Subtle
Families, I Hate You! Shut-in Homes, Closed Doors, Jealous Possessors Of Happiness
Jealousy
Hate
Home
The Important Thing Is Being Capable Of Emotions, But To Experience Only One's Own Would Be A Sorry Limitation.
Sorry
Emotional
Justice
Other People's Appetites Easily Appear Excessive When One Doesn't Share Them.
People
Share
Appetite
An Experience Teaches Only The Good Observer; But Far From Seeking A Lesson In It, Everyone Looks For An Argument In Experience, And Everyone Interprets The Conclusion In His Own Way.
Understanding
Experience
Looks
Each Thought Becomes An Anxiety In My Brain. I Am Becoming The Ugliest Of All Things: A Busy Man.
Men
Anxiety
Brain
I Believe That In Every Circumstance I Have Been Able To See Rather Clearly The Most Advantageous Course I Could Follow, Which Is Very Rarely The One I Did Follow.
Believe
Able
Circumstances
Oh, Would That My Mind Could Let Fall Its Dead Ideas, As The Tree Does Its Withered Leaves! And Without Too Many Regrets, If Possible! Those From Which The Sap Has Withdrawn. But, Good Lord, What Beautiful Colors!
Beautiful
Regret
Fall
An Opinion, Though It Is Original, Does Not Necessarily Differ From The Accepted Opinion; The Important Thing Is That It Does Not Try To Conform To It.
Important
Trying
Doe
Work And Struggle And Never Accept An Evil That You Can Change.
Change
Struggle
Evil
The Pettiness Of A Mind Can Be Measured By The Pettiness Of Its Adoration Or Its Blasphemy.
Mind
Adoration
Blasphemy
Know That Joy Is Rarer, More Difficult, And More Beautiful Than Sadness. Once You Make This All-important Discovery, You Must Embrace Joy As A Moral Obligation.
Beautiful
Sadness
Discovery
To Understand Is Nothing, But To Be Understood-that Is The Problem And The Source Of Anguish. The Soul Throbs And Would Have The Other Know-but Can Not And Feels Isolated. Then Come Gestures, Words, Awkward Explanations And Material Symbols For Imponderable Outbursts Of Feeling-and The Soul Despairs.
Philosophical
Soul
Awkward
Our Deeds Attach Themselves To Us Like The Flame To Phosphorus. They Constitute Our Brilliance, To Be Sure, But Only In So Far As They Consume Us.
Flames
Deeds
Action
I Can't Expect Others To Share My Virtues. It's Good Enough For Me If They Share My Vices.
Vices
Virtue
Good Enough
The Bad Novelist Constructs His Characters; He Directs Them And Makes Them Speak. The True Novelist Listens To Them And Watches Them Act; He Hears Their Voices Even Before He Knows Them.
Character
Voice
Novelists
Most Quarrels Amplify A Misunderstanding.
Amplify
Argument
Quarrels
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


Trending Author
Bobby Fischer
Hubert H. Humphrey
Eric Bristow
Jessica Hagedorn
Phillip Lim
Chief Seattle
Category
Information