Man is not free to refuse to do the thing which gives him more pleasure than any other conceivable action. — 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
