Antoine rivarol quotes

The despotism of will in ideas is styled plan, project, character, obstinacy; its despotism in desires is called passion.

Reason is the historian, but passions are the actors.

It has been very truly said that the mob has many heads, but no brains.

Wrong is wrong; no fallacy can hide it, no subterfuge cover it so shrewdly but that the All-Seeing One will discover and punish it.

It is, no doubt, an immense advantage to have done nothing, but one should not abuse it.

There is even the dignity of vice.

The absolute ruler may be a Nero, but he is sometimes a Titus or Marc Aurelius; the people is often Nero, but never Marc Aurelius.

The woman who too easily and ardently yielded her devotion will find that its vitality, like a bright fire, soon consumes itself.

The subtle sauce of malice is often indulged in by maidens of uncertain age, over their tea.

There are some women who are flirts upon principle; they consider it their duty to make themselves as pleasing as possible to every one.

Vices are often habits rather than passions.

Familiarity is the root of the closest friendships, as well as the interests hatreds.

Rumor, once started, rushes on like a river, until it mingles with, and is lost in the sea.

It is said that friendship between women is only a suspension of hostilities.

Poverty treads close upon the heels of great and unexpected wealth.

It is easy for men to write and talk like philosophers, but to act with wisdom, there is the rub!

It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit.

What isn’t clear, isn’t French.

Of every ten persons who talk about you, nine will say something bad, and the tenth will say something good in a bad way.

Axioms are delightful in theory, but impossible in practice.

Reason is an historian, but the passions are actors.

Mutability is written upon all things.

To be ungrateful is to be unnatural. The head may be thus guilty, not the heart.

Oblivion is the rule and fame the exception, of humanity.

True felicity consists of its own consciousness.

The cunning tempter, by avoiding the grossness of vice, often silences objections.

The world is governed by love,--self-love.

Brave men do not boast nor bluster. Deeds, not words, speak for such.

The only thing wealth does for some people is to make them worry about losing it.

Generally speaking, there is more wit than talent in the world. Society swarms with witty people who lack talent.

The personal pronoun "I" should be the coat of arms of some individuals.

There is nothing so unready as readiness of wit.

Extremes produce reaction. Beware that our boasted civilization does not lapse into barbarism.

That which happens to the soil when it ceases to be cultivated by the social man happens to man himself when he foolishly forsakes society for solitude; the brambles grow up in his desert heart.

Very nice couplet, although there are dull stretches.

The modest man has everything to gain, and the arrogant man everything to lose; for modesty has always to deal with generosity, and arrogance with envy.

In general, indulgence for those we know is rarer than pity for those we know not.

Obtuseness is sometimes a virtue.

Cats don't caress us-they caress themselves on us.

It is a notable circumstance that mothers who are themselves open to severe comments as to their, moral character, are generally most solicitous as to the virtuous behavior of their daughters.

Mind is the partial side of men; the heart is everything.

To lose one's self in reverie, one must be either very happy, or very unhappy. Reverie is the child of extremes.

Memory always obeys the commands of the heart.

There are men who gain from their wealth only the fear of losing it.

Speech is external thought, and thought internal speech.

Opinions, theories, and systems pass by turns over the grindstone of time, which at first gives them brilliancy and sharpness, but finally wears them out.

History is only time furnished with dates and rich with events.

The mischief of children is seldom actuated by malice; that of grown-up people always is.

Indolence and stupidity are first cousins.

Gold like the sun, which melts wax, but hardens clay, expands great souls.

It is not he who searches for praise who finds it.

Silence never yet betrayed any one!

Man spends his life in reasoning on the past, in complaining of the present, in fearing future.

The most civilized people are as near to barbarism as the most polished steel is to rust. Nations, like metals, have only a superficial brilliancy.

Tenderness is the infancy of love.

Ideas are a capital that bears interest only in the hands of talent.

If poverty makes man groan, he yawns in opulence. When fortune exempts us from labor, nature overwhelms us with time.

A fool may have his coat embroidered with gold, but it is a fool's coat still.

Youth is not the era of wisdom; let us therefore have due consideration.

Women read each other at a single glance.

The methods that help a man acquire a fortune are the very ones that keep him from enjoying it.