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A poet who is a bad man is a degraded being, baser and more culpable than a bad man who is not a poet.
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C'est ici le combat du jour et de la nuit... Je vois de la lumière noire.
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Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.
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Jésus a pleuré, Voltaire a souri; c’est de cette larme divine et de ce sourire humain qu’est faite la douceur de la civilisation actuelle.
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Thought is the labor of the intellect, reverie is its pleasure.
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Almost all our desires, when examined, contain something too shameful to reveal.
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One sees qualities at a distance and defects at close range.
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One can resist the invasion of an army but one cannot resist the invasion of ideas.
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Those who live are those who fight.
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The learned man knows that he is ignorant.
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Greater than the tread of mighty armies is an idea whose time has come.
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If people did not love one another, I really don't see what use there would be in having any spring.
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I would have liked to be - indeed, I should have been - a second Rembrandt.
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A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.
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Genius is a promontory jutting out into the infinite.
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An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.
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Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.
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A noble soul and real poetic talent are almost always inseparable.
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Revolution is the larva of civilization.
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No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come.
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To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do.
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Look not at the face, young girl, look at the heart. The heart of a handsome young man is often deformed. There are hearts in which love does not keep. Young girl, the pine is not beautiful; it is not beautiful like the poplar, but it keeps its foliage in winter.
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Blessed be Providence which has given to each his toy: the doll to the child, the child to the woman, the woman to the man, the man to the devil!
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It is from books that wise people derive consolation in the troubles of life.