Andre Gide quotes

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.

There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.

Great authors are admirable in this respect: in every generation they make for disagreement. Through them we become aware of our differences.

Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.

It is easier to lead men to combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labors of peace.

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves.

Through loyalty to the past, our mind refuses to realize that tomorrow's joy is possible only if today's makes way for it; that each wave owes the beauty of its line only to the withdrawal of the preceding one.

The want of logic annoys. Too much logic bores. Life eludes logic, and everything that logic alone constructs remains artificial and forced.

What would there be in a story of happiness? Only what prepares it, only what destroys it can be told.

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.

To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company.

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.

Art begins with resistance - at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor.

It is unthinkable for a Frenchman to arrive at middle age without having syphilis and the Cross of the Legion of Honor.

Nothing prevents happiness like the memory of happiness.

Art begins with resistance - at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor.

Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.

The color of truth is gray.

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.