There is a bizarre notion according to which it is claimed that because men are corrupt, it is necessary to give certain of them all the more power... on the contrary, they must be given less power. — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
There are things one does not say for a long time, but, once they are said, one never stops repeating them. — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
“Woe to the man who in the first moments of a love-affair does not believe that it will last forever! Woe to him who… — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
The people who, in order to enjoy the liberty which suites them, resort to the representative system, must exercise an active and constant surveillance… — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
“There is indeed in the contemplation of beauty of any kind, something which detaches us from ourselves by making us feel that perfection is… — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
The great question in life is the suffering we cause, and the most ingenious metaphysics do not justify the man who has broken the… — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
Art for art's sake, with no purpose, for any purpose perverts art. But art achieves a purpose which is not its own. (1804) — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
“I detest that fatuity of mind which believes that what is explained is also excused; I hate that vanity which finds it interesting to… — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
“Nearly always, so as to live at peace with ourselves, we disguise our own impotence and weakness as calculation and policy; it is our… — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
“Consoler of our misery, religion is at the same time the most natural of our emotions. Unknown to us, all our physical sensations, all… — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
“We are such volatile creatures, we finally feel sentiments we feign” — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
No duty, however, binds us to these so-called laws, whose corrupting influence menaces what is noblest in our being. — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
“How would you define the impression of a dark night, of an ancient forest, of the wind moaning through ruins or over graves, of… — Benjamin Constant Copy Share Image
