Henri Frederic Amiel Quotes

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Henri Frederic Amiel

Profession : Philosopher

Birth : September 27, 1821

Tears are the symbol of the inability of the soul to restrain its emotion and retain its self command.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Our systems, perhaps, are nothing more than an unconscious apology for our faults, a gigantic scaffolding whose object is to hide from us our favorite sin.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family. She carries its destiny in the folds of her mantle.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty.

Henri Frederic Amiel

We only understand that which already is within us.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Charm is the quality in others, that makes us more satisfied with ourselves.

Henri Frederic Amiel

It is not what he had, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Common sense is the measure of the possible; it is composed of experience and prevision; it is calculation applied to life.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Order is a great person's need and their true well being.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Sacrifice, which is the passion of great souls, has never been the law of societies.

Henri Frederic Amiel

He who asks of life nothing but the improvement of his own nature... is less liable than anyone else to miss and waste life.

Henri Frederic Amiel

The only substance properly so called is the soul.

Henri Frederic Amiel

If nationality is consent, the state is compulsion.

Henri Frederic Amiel

To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching. To attain it we must be able to guess what will interest; we must learn to read the childish soul as we might a piece of music. Then, by simply changing the key, we keep up the attraction and vary the song.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Thought is a kind of opium; it can intoxicate us, while still broad awake; it can make transparent the mountains and everything that exists.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Action is coarsened thought; thought becomes concrete, obscure, and unconscious.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Sacrifice still exists everywhere, and everywhere the elect of each generation suffers for the salvation of the rest.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Let us be true: this is the highest maxim of art and of life, the secret of eloquence and of virtue, and of all moral authority.

Henri Frederic Amiel