Edmond Rostand - Cyrano de Bergerac (1898)

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A large nose is in fact the sign of an affable man, good, courteous, witty, liberal, courageous, such as I am.

Edmond Rostand
A kiss, when all is said, what is it?
An oath sworn nearer by; a promise made
With greater certainty;
a vow which seeks
To make itself more binding; a rosy dot
Placed on the i in loving; 'tis a secret
Told to the mouth instead of to the ear.

Edmond Rostand
Rhymer, brawler, and musician,
Famed for his lunar expedition,
And the unnumbered duels he fought, —
And lover also, — by interposition! —
Here lies Hercule Savinien
De Cyrano de Bergerac,
Who was everything, yet was naught.
I cry you pardon, but I may not stay;
See, the moon-ray that comes to call me hence!
I would not bid you mourn less faithfully
That good, brave Christian: I would only ask
That when my body shall be cold in clay
You wear those sable mourning weeds for two,
And mourn awhile for me, in mourning him.

Edmond Rostand
A kiss! When all is said, what is a kiss? An oath of allegiance taken in closer proximity, a promise more precise, a seal on a confession, a rose-red dot upon the letter i in loving; a secret which elects the mouth for ear; an instant of eternity murmuring like a bee; balmy communion with a flavor of flowers; a fashion of inhaling each other's hearts, and of tasting, on the brink of the lips, each other's soul!

Edmond Rostand
I could have placed myself upon an iron plate, have taken a magnet of suitable size, and thrown it in the air! That way is a very good one! The magnet flies upward, the iron instantly after; the magnet no sooner overtaken than you fling it up again.... The rest is clear! You can go upward indefinitely.

Edmond Rostand
Or else, mechanic as well as artificer, I could have fashioned a giant grasshopper, with steel joints, which, impelled by successive explosions of saltpeter, would have hopped with me to the azure meadows where graze the starry flocks!

Edmond Rostand
Where lurk sweet echoes of the dear homevoices, Each note of which calls like a little sister, Those airs slow, slow ascending, as the smokewreaths Rise from the hearthstones of our native hamlets Cyrano Act 5.

Edmond Rostand
My soul, be satisfied with flowers, with fruit, with weeds even; but gather them in the one garden you may call your own.

Edmond Rostand
My nose is Gargantuan! You little Pig-snout, you tiny Monkey-Nostrils, you virtually invisible Pekinese-Puss, don't you realize that a nose like mine is both scepter and orb, a monument to me superiority?

Edmond Rostand
How obvious it is now—the gift you gave him. All those letters, they were you... All those beautiful powerful words, they were you!.. The voice from the shadows, that was you... You always loved me!" Roxanne

Edmond Rostand
There is, in spite of you, something which I shall take with me. And tonight, when I go into God's house, my bow will make a wide sweep across the blue threshold. Something which, with not a crease, not a mark, I'm taking away in spite of you…and it's…My panache!

Edmond Rostand
A great nose is the banner of a great man, a generous heart, a towering spirit, an expansive soul — such as I unmistakably am, and such as you dare not to dream of being, with your bilious weasel's eyes and no nose to keep them apart!

Edmond Rostand
You blessed my life!
Never on me had rested woman's love.
My mother even could not find me fair:
I had no sister; and, when grown a man,
I feared the mistress who would mock at me.
But I have had your friendship — grace to you
A woman's charm has passed across my path.

Edmond Rostand
Stay awhile! 'Tis sweet,... The rare occasion, when our hearts can speak Our selves unseen, unseeing!

Edmond Rostand
What say you? It is useless? Ay, I know
But who fights ever hoping for success?
I fought for lost cause, and for fruitless quest!
You there, who are you! — You are thousands! Ah!
I know you now, old enemies of mine!
Falsehood!
Have at you! Ha! and Compromise!
Prejudice, Treachery! …
Surrender, I?
Parley? No, never! You too, Folly, — you?
I know that you will lay me low at last;
Let be! Yet I fall fighting, fighting still!

Edmond Rostand
Call no one. Leave me not;
When you come back, I should be gone for aye.

Edmond Rostand
I-I am going to be a storm-a flame- I need to fight whole armies alone; I have ten hearts; I have a hundred arms; I feel too strong to war with mortals- BRING ME GIANTS!

Edmond Rostand
And what is a kiss, specifically? A pledge properly sealed, a promise seasoned to taste, a vow stamped with the immediacy of a lip, a rosy circle drawn around the verb 'to love.' A kiss is a message too intimate for the ear, infinity captured in the bee's brief visit to a flower, secular communication with an aftertaste of heaven, the pulse rising from the heart to utter its name on a lover's lip: 'Forever.

Edmond Rostand
I am what I am because early in life I decided that I would please at least myself in all things.

Edmond Rostand
A great nose indicates a great man—
Genial, courteous, intellectual,
Virile, courageous.

Edmond Rostand
No, In fairy tales
When to the ill-starred Prince the lady says
"I love you!" all his ugliness fades fast —
But I remain the same, up to the last!

Edmond Rostand
Roxane: His face is like yours, burning with spirit and imagination. He is proud and noble and young and fearless and beautiful- Cyrano:(losing all his colour.) Beautiful! Roxane: Yes. What's wrong? Cyrano: With me? Nothing. It's only... only... (Displaying his bandaged hand, with a little smile.) This fatal wound.

Edmond Rostand
My heart always timidly hides itself behind my mind. I set out to bring down stars from the sky, then, for fear of ridicule, I stop and pick little flowers of eloquence.

Edmond Rostand
You strip from me the laurel and the rose!
Take all! Despite you there is yet one thing
I hold against you all, and when, tonight,
I enter Christ's fair courts, and, lowly bowed,
Sweep with doffed casque the heavens' threshold blue,
One thing is left, that, void of stain or smutch,
I bear away despite you …
My panache.

Edmond Rostand
Well when I write my book, and tell the tale of my adventures — all these little stars that shake out of my cloak — I must save those to use for asterisks!

Edmond Rostand