Andre Maurois

The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such. All leaders whose fitness is questioned are clearly lacking in force.

Passionate love produces distorted visions of actual people. Men who are too much in love expect such extraordinary happiness from marriage that they are frequently disappointed.

Without a family man alone in the world trembles with the cold.

Business is a combination of war and sport.

Old age is far more than white hair, wrinkles, the feeling that it is too late and the game finished, that the stage belongs to the rising generations. The true evil is not the weakening of the body, but the indifference of the soul.

A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.

Conversation would be vastly improved by the constant use of four simple words: I do not know.

We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity, romantic love and gunpowder.

In literature as in love we are astounded by what is chosen by others.

The first recipe for happiness is: Avoid too lengthy meditation on the past.

The really great novel tends to be the exact negative of its author's life.

All of us, from time to time, need a plunge into freedom and novelty, after which routine and discipline will seem delightful by contrast

If you create an act you create a habit. If you create a habit you create a character. If you create a character you create a destiny.

The effectiveness of work increases according to geometric progression if there are no interruptions.

Modesty and unselfishness - these are the virtues which men praise - and pass by.

A marriage without conflicts is almost as inconceivable as a nation without crises.

Style is the hallmark of a temperament stamped upon the material at hand.

A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short.

Self-pity comes so naturally to all of us. The most solid happiness can be shaken by the compassion of a fool.

There are certain persons for whom pure Truth is a poison.

If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really desire the things they failed to obtain.

Smile, for everyone lacks self-confidence and more than any other one thing a smile reassures them.

The first recipe for happiness is: avoid too lengthy meditation on the past.

No one can be profoundly original who does not avoid eccentricity.

Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy person has no time to form.

Men and women are not born inconstant: they are made so by their early amorous experiences.

The first recipe of happiness avoid too lengthy meditations on the past.

People are what you make them. A scornful look turns into a complete fool a man of average intelligence. A contemptuous indifference turns into an enemy a woman who, well treated, might have been an angel.

Lost Illusion is the undisclosed title of every novel.

The longer the road to love, the keener is the pleasure to be experienced by the sensitive lover.

There are very few really brilliant men who have not had at least one madman among their ancestors.

In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.

Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold.

We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity - romantic love and gunpowder.

If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.

Our minds have unbelievable power over our bodies.

It is restful to leave one's home; not because traveling does not entail varied and difficult daily actions, but because it removes our responsibilities.

You don't love a man for what he says, but love what he says because you love him.

Memory is a great artist. For every man and for every woman it makes the recollection of his or her life a work of art and an unfaithful record.

We appreciate frankness from those who like us. Frankness from others is called insolence.

To feminine eyes a man's prestige, or his fame, envelops him in a luminous haze which obscures his faults. The triumphs of an aviator, an actor, a football player, an orator are often responsible for the beginning of a love affair.

The first recipe for happiness is avoid too lengthy meditation on the past.

To be witty is not enough. One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it.

For intelligent people action often means escape from thought but it is a reasonable and a wise escape.

An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not go flopping along.

The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion but rather to know it.

Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form.

If you value a man's regard, strive with him. As to liking, you like your newspaper - and despise it.