Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur Quotes

France, Writer
December 31, 1735 – November, 12, 1813.

Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur naturalized in New York as John Hector St. John, was a French-American writer. He was born in Caen, Normandy, France, to the Comte and Comtesse de Crèvecœur (Count and Countess of Crèvecœur).He was born to a family of minor nobility in Normandy, France. In 1755 he migrated to New France in North America. There, he served in the French and Indian War as a cartographer in the French Colonial Militia, rising to the rank of lieutenant.

What, then, is this new man, the American? They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes. From this promiscuous breed, that race, now called Americans, have arisen.

Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur
- American
- English
- Irish
Most elegantly finished in all parts, [the hummingbird] is a miniature work of our Great Parent, who seems to have formed it the smallest, and at the same time the most beautiful of the winged species.

Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur
- Time
- Work
- Great

He who governs himself according to what he calls his principles may be punished either by one party or the other for those very principles. He who proceeds without principle, as chance, timidity, or self-preservation directs, will not perhaps fare better; but he will be less blamed.

Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur
- May
- Party
There is room for every body in America; has he any particular talent or industry? He exerts it in order to procure a livelihood, and it succeeds.

Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur
Men are like plants; the goodness and flavor of the fruit proceeds from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow. We are nothing but what we derive from the air we breathe, the climate we inhabit, the government we obey, the system of religion we profess, and the nature of our employment.

Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur
- Men
- Nature
- Air