Quotes by Henri Frederic Amiel

“Learn to limit yourself; to content yourself with some definite work; dare to be what you are and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not; and to believe in your own individuality.”

“The man who insists on seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides”

“Thought is a kind of opium; it can intoxicate us, while still broad awake; it can make transparent the mountains and everything that exists.”

“Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark”

“Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.”

“Destiny has two ways of crushing us -- by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them.”

“Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family. She carries its destiny in the folds of her mantle.”

“Any landscape is a condition of the spirit.”

“Materialism coarsens and petrifies everything, making everything vulgar, and every truth false.”

“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.”

“Love cannot express the idea of music, while music may give an idea of love”

“Music is perpetual, and only the hearing is intermittent.”

“Music is the vernacular of the human soul”

“Tears are the symbol of the inability of the soul to restrain its emotion and retain its self command.”

“Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.”

“True love is that which ennobles the personality, fortifies the heart, and sanctifies the existence.”

“Order is a great persons need and their true well being.”

“Self-interest is but the survival of the animal in us. Humanity only begins for man with self-surrender.”

“Learn to... be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not.”

“To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.”