Andre Maurois

“Self-pity comes so naturally to all of us. The most solid happiness can be shaken by the compassion of a fool.”

“We appreciate frankness from those who like us. Frankness from others is called insolence.”

“The really great novel tends to be the exact negative of its author's life.”

“A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.”

“There are certain persons for whom pure Truth is a poison.”

“An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not go flopping along.”

“Lost Illusion is the undisclosed title of every novel.”

“We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity - romantic love and gunpowder.”

“To be witty is not enough. One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it.”

“A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short.”

“Memory is a great artist. For every man and for every woman it makes the recollection of his or her life a work of art and an unfaithful record.”

“Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy person has no time to form.”

“Modesty and unselfishness - these are the virtues which men praise - and pass by.”

“If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really desire the things they failed to obtain.”

“Smile, for everyone lacks self-confidence and more than any other one thing a smile reassures them.”

“Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold.”

“Conversation would be vastly improved by the constant use of four simple words: I do not know.”

“Old age is far more than white hair, wrinkles, the feeling that it is too late and the game finished, that the stage belongs to the rising generations. The true evil is not the weakening of the body, but the indifference of the soul.”

“Business is a combination of war and sport.”

“A marriage without conflicts is almost as inconceivable as a nation without crises.”