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
Despair
Duty
Clear
Must
Mind
Fluctuate
Ballast
Levity
Conception

More quotes by Henri Frederic Amiel

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Sacrifice, which is the passion of great souls, has never been the law of societies.
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Man is saved by love and duty, and by the hope that springs from duty, or rather from the moral facts of consciousness, as a flower springs from the soil.
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To marry unequally is to suffer equally.
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To understand is to possess the thing understood, first by sympathy and then by intelligence.
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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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I do not deny the rights of democracy, but I have no illusions as to the uses that will be made of those rights so long as wisdom is rare and pride abundant
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Only evil grows of itself, while for goodness we want effort and courage.
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Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.
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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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A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied he must know how to disengage what is essential from the detail in which it is enwrapped, for everything cannot be equally considered in a word, he must be able to simplify his duties, his business and his life.
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A musical theme once exhausted, finds its due refuge and repose in silence.
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Put personal ambition away from you, and then you will find consolation in living or in dying, whatever may happen to you.
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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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Criticism is above all a gift, an intuition, a matter of tact and flair it cannot be taught or demonstrated--it is an art.
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Our dependence outweighs our independence, for we are independent only in our desire, while we are dependent on our health, on nature, on society, on everything in us and outside us.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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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.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Mother of Marvels, mysterious and tender Nature, why do we not live more in thee.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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From every spot on earth we are equally near heaven and the infinite.
Henri Frederic Amiel
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Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family. She carries its destiny in the folds of her mantle.
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Truth is not only violated by falsehood it may be equally outraged by silence.
Henri Frederic Amiel