Andre Maurois Quotes

In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.

Modesty and unselfishness - these are the virtues which men praise - and pass by.

The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion but rather to know it.

If, in New York, you arrive late for an appointment, say, "I took a taxi".

There are deserts in every life, and the desert must be depicted if we are to give a fair and complete idea of the country.

All of us, from time to time, need a plunge into freedom and novelty, after which routine and discipline will seem delightful by contrast

A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.

To be witty is not enough. One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it.

Art is an effort to create, beside the real world, a more humane world.

A great biography should, like the close of a great drama, leave behind it a feeling of serenity. We collect into a small bunch the flowers, the few flowers, which brought sweetness into a life, and present it as an offering to an accomplished destiny. It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem.

Lost Illusion is the undisclosed title of every novel.

Writing is a difficult trade which must be learned slowly by reading great authors; by trying at the outset to imitate them; by daring then to be original; by destroying one's first productions.