Antoine Rivarol quotes:

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  • Man spends his life in reasoning on the past, in complaining of the present, in fearing future.

  • It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit.

  • Gold like the sun, which melts wax, but hardens clay, expands great souls.

  • Of every ten persons who talk about you, nine will say something bad, and the tenth will say something good in a bad way.

  • To lose one's self in reverie, one must be either very happy, or very unhappy. Reverie is the child of extremes.

  • Oblivion is the rule and fame the exception, of humanity.

  • The absolute ruler may be a Nero, but he is sometimes a Titus or Marc Aurelius; the people is often Nero, but never Marc Aurelius.

  • Extremes produce reaction. Beware that our boasted civilization does not lapse into barbarism.

  • The only thing wealth does for some people is to make them worry about losing it.

  • Brave men do not boast nor bluster. Deeds, not words, speak for such.

  • Very nice couplet, although there are dull stretches.

  • Tenderness is the infancy of love.

  • Vices are often habits rather than passions.

  • Familiarity is the root of the closest friendships, as well as the interests hatreds.

  • Memory always obeys the commands of the heart.

  • Wrong is wrong; no fallacy can hide it, no subterfuge cover it so shrewdly but that the All-Seeing One will discover and punish it.

  • In general, indulgence for those we know is rarer than pity for those we know not.

  • The personal pronoun "I" should be the coat of arms of some individuals.

  • Familiarity is the root of the closest friendships, as well as the intensest hatreds

  • Ideas are a capital that bears interest only in the hands of talent.

  • The most civilized people are as near to barbarism as the most polished steel is to rust. Nations, like metals, have only a superficial brilliancy.

  • It is, no doubt, an immense advantage to have done nothing, but one should not abuse it.

  • True felicity consists of its own consciousness.

  • Opinions, theories, and systems pass by turns over the grindstone of time, which at first gives them brilliancy and sharpness, but finally wears them out.

  • It is a notable circumstance that mothers who are themselves open to severe comments as to their, moral character, are generally most solicitous as to the virtuous behavior of their daughters.

  • If poverty makes man groan, he yawns in opulence. When fortune exempts us from labor, nature overwhelms us with time.

  • Generally speaking, there is more wit than talent in the world. Society swarms with witty people who lack talent.

  • The world is governed by love,--self-love.

  • The mischief of children is seldom actuated by malice; that of grown-up people always is.

  • The despotism of will in ideas is styled plan, project, character, obstinacy; its despotism in desires is called passion.

  • That which happens to the soil when it ceases to be cultivated by the social man happens to man himself when he foolishly forsakes society for solitude; the brambles grow up in his desert heart.

  • Women read each other at a single glance.

  • The methods that help a man acquire a fortune are the very ones that keep him from enjoying it.

  • Mutability is written upon all things.

  • The cunning tempter, by avoiding the grossness of vice, often silences objections.

  • It has been very truly said that the mob has many heads, but no brains.

  • The woman who too easily and ardently yielded her devotion will find that its vitality, like a bright fire, soon consumes itself.

  • There is even the dignity of vice.

  • Silence never yet betrayed any one!

  • Youth is not the era of wisdom; let us therefore have due consideration.

  • Poverty treads close upon the heels of great and unexpected wealth.

  • It is not he who searches for praise who finds it.

  • Obtuseness is sometimes a virtue.

  • Reason is the historian, but passions are the actors.

  • A fool may have his coat embroidered with gold, but it is a fool's coat still.

  • The subtle sauce of malice is often indulged in by maidens of uncertain age, over their tea.

  • There are men who gain from their wealth only the fear of losing it.

  • History is only time furnished with dates and rich with events.

  • Rumor, once started, rushes on like a river, until it mingles with, and is lost in the sea.

  • The modest man has everything to gain, and the arrogant man everything to lose; for modesty has always to deal with generosity, and arrogance with envy.

  • There are some women who are flirts upon principle; they consider it their duty to make themselves as pleasing as possible to every one.

  • Indolence and stupidity are first cousins.

  • Mind is the partial side of men; the heart is everything.

  • Axioms are delightful in theory, but impossible in practice.

  • There is nothing so unready as readiness of wit.

  • To be ungrateful is to be unnatural. The head may be thus guilty, not the heart.

  • Speech is external thought, and thought internal speech.

  • Cats don't caress us-they caress themselves on us.

  • It is said that friendship between women is only a suspension of hostilities.

  • Reason is an historian, but the passions are actors.

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