Jules Renard

Broken china lasts longer than unbroken.

— Jules Renard

Clarity is the politeness of the man of letters.

— Jules Renard

Dreaming is to think by moonlight by the light of an inner moon.

— Jules Renard

“At the bottom of all patriotism there is war: that is why I am no patriot.”

— Jules Renard

Truth makes many appeals, not the least of which is its power to shock.

— Jules Renard

The void yields up nothing. You have to be a great poet to make it ring.

— Jules Renard

There are places and moments in which one is so completely alone that one sees the world entire.

— Jules Renard

It is when we are faced with death that we turn most bookish.

— Jules Renard

The danger of success is that it makes us forget the world's dreadful injustice.

— Jules Renard

Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.

— Jules Renard

I have a remarkable memory; I forget everything. It is wonderfully convenient. It is as though the world were constantly renewing itself…

— Jules Renard

There is a justice, but we do not always see it. Discreet, smiling, it is there, at one side, a little behind…

— Jules Renard

“Never does one feel oneself so utterly helpless as in trying to speak comfort for great bereavement. Time is the only comforter.”

— Jules Renard

Our dream dashes itself against the great mystery like a wasp against a window pane. Less merciful than man, God never opens…

— Jules Renard

Let us stay at home: there we are decent. Let us not go out: our defects wait for us at the door,…

— Jules Renard

I am afraid I shall not find him, but I shall still look for him, for if he exists, he may be…

— Jules Renard

Life is what our character makes it. We fashion it, as a snail does its shell. A man can say: I never…

— Jules Renard

“The peasant is the only species of human being who doesn't like the country and never looks at it.”

— Jules Renard

I find that when I do not think of myself I do not think at all.

— Jules Renard

An optimist is a driver who thinks that empty space at the curb won't have a hydrant beside it.

— Jules Renard

When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness.

— Jules Renard

As I grow to understand life less and less I grow to love it more and more.

— Jules Renard

It is more difficult to be an honorable man for a week than to be a hero for fifteen minutes.

— Jules Renard

An egotist always resents meeting another egotist as if he alone had the right to be one.

— Jules Renard

To think is not enough, you must think of something.

— Jules Renard

Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.

— Jules Renard

We must be greater than God, for we have to undo His injustice.

— Jules Renard

It is not enough to be happy, it is also necessary that others not be.

— Jules Renard

We are so happy to advise others that occasionally we even do it in their interest.

— Jules Renard

Walks. The body advances, while the mind flutters around it like a bird.

— Jules Renard

Only in this world do we laugh: in hell, it won't be possible; and in heaven, it won't be proper.

— Jules Renard

Do not ask me to be kind; just ask me to act as though I were.

— Jules Renard

In the most complete friendship there is always a little empty space, like the space in an egg.

— Jules Renard

Some people are so boring that they make you waste an entire day in five minutes.

— Jules Renard

We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it

— Jules Renard

Words should be only the clothes, carefully custom-made to fit the thought.

— Jules Renard

As I grow to understand life less and less, I learn to live it more and more

— Jules Renard

Talent is a matter of quantity. Talent does not write on page, it writes three hundred.

— Jules Renard

It is in the midst of the city that one writes the most inspiring pages about the country.

— Jules Renard

“There are moments when everything goes well; don't be frightened, it won't last.”

— Jules Renard