Denis de Rougemont

Animals do feel like us, also joy, love, fear and pain but they cannot grasp the spoken word. It is our obligation…

— Denis de Rougemont

“This peculiar connexion between a certain view of woman and the European conception of war has had profound consequences for morality, education,…

— Denis de Rougemont

Having fallen from the eternal, the Evil One's desires are endless, insatiable. Having fallen from pure Being, he is driven by the…

— Denis de Rougemont

“So soon as passion goes beyond instinct and becomes truly itself, it tends to self self-description, either in order to justify or…

— Denis de Rougemont

A life allied with mine, for the rest of our lives... that is the miracle of marriage.

— Denis de Rougemont

“The more a man is given to sentiment ,the more likely is he to be wordy and to speak well.”

— Denis de Rougemont

Social confusion has now reached a point at which the pursuit of immorality turns out to be more exhausting than compliance with…

— Denis de Rougemont

To love in the sense of passion-love is the contrary of to live. It is an impoverishment of one's being, an askesis…

— Denis de Rougemont

One possessed a thousand and three women (in Spain alone), the other only one. But it is multiplicity that is impoverished, whilethe…

— Denis de Rougemont

Passion and marriage are essentially irreconcilable. Their origins and their ends make them mutually exclusive. Their co-existence in our midst constantly raises…

— Denis de Rougemont

What stirs lyrical poets to their finest flights is neither the delight of the senses nor the fruitful contentment of the settled…

— Denis de Rougemont

Love ceases to be a demon only when it ceases to be a god.

— Denis De Rougemont

Fallen myths can instill venom.

— Denis de Rougemont

Romance only comes into existence where love is fatal, frowned upon and doomed by life itself.

— Denis de Rougemont

“[...] passion is by no means the fuller life which it seems to be in the dreams of adolescence, but is on…

— Denis De Rougemont

Both in the lower and the middle classes the wiseacres urge young men 'to think it over' before taking the decisive step.…

— Denis de Rougemont

Why should neurotic, selfish, immature people suddenly become angels when they fall in love ... ?

— Denis de Rougemont

Happiness is indeed a Eurydice, vanishing as soon as gazed upon. It can exist only in acceptance, and succumbs as soon as…

— Denis de Rougemont

“Love ceases to be a demon only when he ceases to be a god.”

— Denis de Rougemont