Sully Prudhomme

"He who knows die, has no longer a master."

"Sully Prudhomme, Journal inintima, translated by Pietro Lazzaro, Pensieri (Pensées), translated by Pietro Lazzaro, Poesie (Poésies), translated by Maria Luisa Spaziani, in I Premi Nobel per la Letteratura, vol. II, Fratelli Fabbri Editori, Milan, 1965."

"Sully Prudhomme is a writer of equal depth. You bathe in it without fear and always hit rock bottom. (Jules Renard)"

"The people who could best think about art seem to be artists. An exquisite artist, a delicate poet like Sully Prudhomme, who possesses, with his artistic faculties, a solid literary and, more importantly, scientific culture, has given us the book of Expression in the Fine Arts, which is among the most thoughtful and ponderous to appear in recent years. Although the title speaks only of expression, many other problems of aesthetics are included in this one that the author proposes to solve. The first of all is, without a doubt, the one concerning the nature of art, or rather the relationship between art and nature. (Federico De Roberto)"

"That Sully Prudhomme is a brilliant artist, a very delicate poet, is well known by those who have heard, with or without music, his famous Vase brisé. That he is a highly cultured thinker, a keen philosopher, is known to those who have compelled his ponderous volume on Expression in the Fine Arts. He did not, however, wish to keep his different faculties separate, contenting himself with writing now inspired verses and now rigorous reasoning; he also composed poems entitled The Destinies, Justice and Happiness with the heart of a poet and the mind of a philosopher. This part of his work is the most noteworthy, because it refers to one of the most singular problems of our time. (Federico De Roberto)"

"Discourse on Virtue. Virtue does not promise anything, it merely takes pleasure in its own deeds. To courage he proposes trials of pain, and as a reward to life he offers the pure feeling of dignity. (Monday, February 1, C.E.[1864],, p. 92)"

"When one has delved into a philosophical problem, one must, somehow, step back like a painter in front of the picture and look at what he has produced. (Saturday, January 30, C.E.[1864],, p. 87)"

"Pascal, I admire you, you are mine, I penetrate your thought as if I thought in you; magnanimous, deep sadness, deep as night; How it is full of faint distant lights! Be my teacher, adopt me; I suffer endlessly, I gravitate towards the truth, I never reach it. Have you really believed the revelation? (Sunday, October 5, C.E.[1862],, p. 53)"

"I will come to a solution about the problem of time. When the infinite shows a hem of its garment, it casts its immense shadow over the problem; Then we grope, but it is a lost effort. (Saturday, October 4, C.E.[1862],, p. 52)"

"When a woman is truly chaste, she is also incorruptible; I will be less likely to believe in the moral failures of angelic women. (Thursday, October 2, C.E.[1862], p. 51)"

"We see sometimes, in the dark schools, | Kids who are always crying. | They go wild, the others in somersaults, | but they curl up in a song. | The strong say that they are maidens, | And the cunning call them innocent. | They are sweet, they give us toys; they will certainly not be traders...Quoted in: Gabriel D'Aubarède, The life and works of Sully Prudhomme, translation by Maria Luisa Spaziani, in The Nobel Prizes for Literature, vol. II, pp. 27-28."

"It is I, who deceives the breeze | with my pretty heartbeats... | O women! Sometimes, I lure her in | to your beautiful radiant eyes; || Sometimes, I catch her: and I bow, | making her my prisoner, | Why He Caresses Your Little Face | with a caress . || I bring you, to moved ears, | – of your hair trembling – | The sigh that makes them red | with sweet words of love. || It is I, who for you I am the one who sums it up: | And I help you to dissemble | or your sly smile, | or tears ready to flow. From Il fan"

"I think of my young colleagues who don't have the means to have their first poems printed. I'm going to reserve a sum [the one I received for the Nobel Prize] that will allow them to have their first notebooks of poems printed. I have already received a large amount of requests whose fulfillment would absorb the entire prize."

"And you think she's dead? | No. The day I mourned for her, | I did not distinguish funereal hanging drapes | nor did I see a coffin before his door. From"

"Wir glauben zu leben, aber in Wirklichkeit arbeiten wir nur, um nicht zu sterben."

"Wer sich mit niemandem überwerfen möchte, macht sich zum Sklaven aller."

"Welch ein Anker ist die Hoffnung!"

"Was man einer anständigen Frau sagen kann, hat seine Grenzen; man kann alles durchklingen lassen, man kann nicht alles sagen."

"Sobald man sich seiner Bescheidenheit bewusst ist, verliert man sie."

"Sind Gewissensbisse nicht ein Bedauern der Freiheit, dass sie dem Laster geopfert wurde?"

"Nur der Ehrgeiz, durch den keine Eitelkeit schimmert, hat Zukunft."

"Man ist nur glücklich durch das, was man fühlt, und nicht durch das, was man ist."

"Jedes Alter kann einen guten Gebrauch vom Leben machen, aber man kennt die Möglichkeiten nur, wenn man dieses Alter durchlebt hat."

"Immer wieder findet man in den intelligentesten Menschen zugleich die liberalsten und in den Ungebildetsten die radikalsten."

"Im Feingefühl hat das Herz Geist."

"Handwerk ist durch Gewohnheit erlangte Geschicklichkeit."

"Gesundheit erkennt man daran, dass das Leben seine Wurzeln gern in das irdische Element senkt und sich dort wohl fühlt."

"Feinfühligkeit beim Almosengeben ist die Anmut des Wohltuns."

"Es gibt Menschen, die durch kleine Zwischenfälle aus dem Gleichgewicht geraten können, während sie die großen Schläge standhaft ertragen."

"Es ist ein Rausch, Mutter zu sein, und eine Würde, Vater zu sein."

"Es gibt einen Stolz, der zu kriechen versteht."

"Es gibt ein untrügliches Maß für die Zuneigung: die Zeit, die man ihr widmet."

"Empörung macht Mut. Es gibt keine feige Empörung."

"Die Empörung ist der Zorn der Gerechtigkeit."

"Die Aufrichtigkeit ist die erste Bedingung jeglichen geistigen Schaffens."

"Die Annehmlichkeit und die Leichtfertigkeit eines auf die mechanischen Beschäftigungen beschränkten Daseins ersticken die Knospe gerechter Auflehnung."

"Die Anmut ist die Geschmeidigkeit der Form."

"Die Achtung, die uns die Mitmenschen einflössen, lässt sich an der Art unserer Vertraulichkeit ermessen."

"Das Warten ist die grausamste Vermengung von Hoffnung und Verzweiflung, durch die eine Seele gefoltert werden kann."

"Das Urteil der Bourgeoisie in den Dingen der Kunst ist naiv und brutal."

"Das Lächeln wird nicht gelehrt, es trägt in sich einen gemeinverständlichen Sinn."

"Das Genie entzieht sich den Konventionen und sieht die Dinge selbst an."

"Barmherzigkeit ist leichter zu üben als Gerechtigkeit."

"Alle Auflehnung gegen die Natur, gegen die Seinsbedingungen ist unfruchtbar und krankhaft."