Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

“Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.”

“The faults of husbands are often caused by the excess virtues of their wives.”

“As for an authentic villain, the real thing, the absolute, the artist, one rarely meets him even once in a lifetime. The ordinary bad hat is always in part a decent fellow.”

“Writing only leads to more writing.”

“A happy childhood is poor preparation for human contacts.”

“You do not notice changes in what is always before you.”

“I love my past, I love my present. I am not ashamed of what I have had, and I am not sad because I no longer have it.”

“The lovesick, the betrayed, and the jealous all smell alike.”

“A woman who thinks she is intelligent demands the same rights as man. An intelligent woman gives up.”

“One keeps forgetting old age up to the very brink of the grave.”

“Total absence of humor renders life impossible.”

“A pretty little collection of weaknesses and a terror of spiders are our indispensable stock-in-trade with the men.”

“Look for a long time at what pleases you, and a longer time at what pains you.”

“If I can't have too many truffles, I'll do without truffles.”

“You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.”

“Sincerity is not a spontaneous flower nor is modesty either.”

“What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner.”

“My true friends have always given me that supreme proof of devotion, a spontaneous aversion for the man I loved.”