There is no such thing as "natural law": this expression is nothing but old nonsense... Prior to laws, what is natural is only the strength of the lion, or the need of the creature suffering from hunger or cold, in… — Stendhal Copy Share Image
At a distance, we cannot conceive of the authority of a despot who knows all his subjects on sight. — Stendhal Copy Share Image
The pleasures and the cares of the luckiest ambition, even of limitless power, are nothing next to the intimate happiness that tenderness and love… — Stendhal Copy Share Image
The more a race is governed by its passions, the less it has acquired the habit of cautious and reasoned argument, the more intense… — Stendhal Copy Share Image
The tyranny of public opinion (and what an opinion!) is as fatuous in the small towns of France as it is in the United… — Stendhal Copy Share Image
In love, unlike most other passions, the recollection of what you have had and lost is always better than what you can hope for… — Stendhal Copy Share Image
“The footman burst in, announcing, 'Monsieur le Duc de ---.' 'Hold your tongue, you fool,' said the Duke as he entered the room. He… — Stendhal Copy Share Image
“If you think of paying court to those in power, your eternal ruin is assured.” — Stendhal Copy Share Image
Your career will be a painful one. I divine something in you which offends the vulgar. — Stendhal Copy Share Image
A forty-year-old woman is only something to men who have loved her in her youth. — Stendhal Copy Share Image
Perhaps men who cannot love passionately are those who feel the effect of beauty most keenly; at any rate this is the strongest impression… — Stendhal Copy Share Image
