Quotes by Henri Frederic Amiel

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.

Faith is a certitude without proofs ... a sentiment for it is a hope it is an instinct for it precedes all outward instruction.

To win true peace a man needs to feel himself directed pardoned and sustained by a supreme power to feel himself in the right road at the point where God would have him be-in order with God and the universe. This faith gives strength and calm.

Doing easily what others find is difficult is talent doing what is impossible for talent is genius.

For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.

How then find the courage for action?... By accepting the human condition more simply and candidly by dreading troubles less calculating less hoping more.

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

Unconsciousness spontaneity instinct ... hold us to the earth and dictate the relatively good and useful.

Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour germinates no more.

Man becomes man only by his intelligence but he is man only by his heart.

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

A man only understands what is akin to something already existing in himself.

The man who has no inner life is the slave of his surroundings.

Time wasted is a theft from God.

To learn new habits is everything for it is to reach the substance of life. Life is but a tissue of habits.

Man becomes man only by the intelligence but he is man only by the heart.

Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to ones liberty.

A thousand things advance nine hundred and ninety-nine retreat that is progress.

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

A man must be able to cut a knot for everything cannot be untied he must know how to disengage what is essential from the detail in which it is enwrapped for everything cannot be equally considered in a word he must be able to simplify his duties his business and his life.