Quote

Self-interest is an inexhaustible source of convenient illusions. The number of beings who wish to see truly is extraordinarily small.

Henri Frederic Amiel

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Henri Frederic Amiel
Age: 59 †
Born: 1821
Born: September 27
Died: 1881
Died: May 11
Diarist
Literary Critic
Philosopher
Poet
Translator
University Teacher
Writer
Genève
Henri-Frederic Amiel
Henri Frédéric Amiel
Small
Illusions
Interest
Convenient
Wish
Illusion
Self
Beings
Number
Truly
Source
Inexhaustible
Numbers
Extraordinarily

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Men of genius supply the substance of history, while the mass of men are but the critical filter, the limiting, slackening, passive force needed for the modification of ideas supplied by genius.
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The great majority of men are but tangled skeins, imperfect keyboards, so many specimens of restless or stagnant chaos--and what makes their situation almost hopeless is the fact that they take pleasure in it. There is no curing a sick man who believes himself in health.
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Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.
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Sympathy is the first condition of criticism.
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The germs of all things are in every heart, and the greatest criminals as well as the greatest heroes are but different modes of ourselves.
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Heroism is the brilliant triumph of the soul over the flesh - over fear...Heroism is the dazzling and glorious concentration of courage.
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Everything you need for better future and success has already been written. And guess what? All you have to do is go to the library.
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At bottom there is but one subject of study: the forms and metamorphoses of mind. All other subjects may be reduced to that all other studies bring us back to this study.
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Joy is the vital air of the soul.
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Nothing resembles pride so much as discouragement.
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There is only one way of not hating those who do us wrong, and that is by doing them good.
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It would have been a joy to me to be smiled upon, loved, encouraged, welcomed, and to obtain what I was so ready to give, kindness and goodwill. But to hunt down consideration and reputation - to force the esteem of others - seemed to me an effort unworthy of myself, almost a degradation.
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To understand is to possess the thing understood, first by sympathy and then by intelligence.
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Dreams are excursions into the limbo of things, a semi-deliverance from the human prison.
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Never to tire, never to grow cold to be patient, sympathetic, tender to look for the budding flower and the opening heart to hope always like God, to love always--this is duty.
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A belief is not true simply because it is useful.
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The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. Accept life, and you must accept regret.
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The fire which enlightens is the same fire which consumes.
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Women wish to be loved without a why or a wherefore not because they are pretty, or good, or well-bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves.
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