Quote

Do not mistake me. I am not yet weak enough to yield to fearful imaginings, which are almost as absurd as illusions of hope, and are certainly harder to bear. If I must deceive myself, I should prefer to stay on the side of confidence, for I shall lose no more there and shall suffer less.

Marguerite Yourcenar

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Marguerite Yourcenar
Age: 84 †
Born: 1903
Born: June 7
Died: 1987
Died: December 17
Essayist
Novelist
Poet
Translator
University Teacher
Writer
Brussels
Belgium
Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour
Yourcenar
Marguerite Cleenewerck de Crayencour
Marguerite de Crayencour
Hope
Side
Illusion
Illusions
Enough
Loses
Bears
Deceiving
Must
Shall
Confidence
Fearful
Mistake
Weak
Yield
Sides
Harder
Absurd
Almost
Certainly
Prefer
Suffering
Stay
Suffer
Imaginings
Less
Lose
Bear
Deceive

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Morals are a matter of private agreement decency is of public concern.
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Of all our games, love's play is the only one which threatens to unsettle the soul.
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It is not difficult to nourish admirable thoughts when the stars are present.
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Passion such as hers is all consent, asking little in return. I had merely to enter a room where she was to see her face take on that peaceful expression of one who is resting in bed. If I touched her, I had the impression that all the blood in her veins was turning to honey.
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Leaving behind books is even more beautiful — there are far too many children.
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Love is a punishment. We are punished for not having been strong enough to remain alone.
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He had reached that moment in life, different for each one of us, when a man abandonds himself to his demon or to his genius, following a mysterious law which bids him either to destroy or outdo himself.
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Everything is too far away in the past, or mysteriously too close.
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Writing is a perpetual choice between a thousand expressions, none of which satisfies me, none of which, above all, satisfies me without the others. Yet I ought to know that only music permits a succession of chords.
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All happiness is a form of innocence.
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The written word has taught me to listen to the human voice, much as the great unchanging statues have taught me to appreciate bodily motions.
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Everything that we do affects our fate for better or for worse. The circumstances into which we are born also exert a tremendous influence we come into the world with debits and credits for which we are not responsible already posted to our account: this teaches us humility.
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No one understands eternity. One simply recognizes its existence.
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Want of passion is, I think, a very striking characteristic of Americans, not unrelated to their predilection for violence. For very few people truly have a passionate desire to achieve, and violence serves as a kind of substitute.
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