Quote

The mind must have for ballast the clear conception of duty, if it is not to fluctuate between levity and despair.

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
Ballast
Levity
Conception
Despair
Duty
Clear
Must
Mind
Fluctuate

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Only evil grows of itself, while for goodness we want effort and courage.
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To be always ready a man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied.
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To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius.
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From every spot on earth we are equally near heaven and the infinite.
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Philosophy starts with doubt and loves only truth.
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We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves. The consciousness of wrong-doing makes us irritable, and our heart, in its cunning, quarrels with what is outside it, in order that it may deafen the clamor within.
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Time and space are fragments of the infinite for the use of finite creatures.
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Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven.
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Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires but according to our powers.
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I am a spectator, so to speak, of the molecular whirlwind which men call individual life I am conscious of an incessant metamorphosis, an irresistible movement of existence, which is going on within me - and this phenomenology of myself serves as a window opened upon the mystery of the world.
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To know how to suggest is the art of teaching.
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Society lives by faith, and develops by science.
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We are always making God our accomplice, that so we may legalize our own iniquities. Every successful massacre is consecrated by a Te Deum, and the clergy have never been wanting in benedictions for any victorious enormity.
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We are all visionaries, and what we see is our soul in things.
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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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The laws of animality govern almost the whole of history.
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Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.
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Latent genius is but a presumption. Everything that can be, is bound to come into being, and what never comes into being is nothing.
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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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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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