François-René de Chateaubriand Quotes

34 Sourced Quotes

How small man is on this little atom where he dies! But how great his intelligence! He knows when the face of the stars must be masked in darkness, when the comets will return after thousands of years, he who lasts only an instant! A microscopic insect lost in a fold of the heavenly robe, the orbs cannot hide from him a single one of their movements in the depth of space. What destinies will those stars, new to us, light? Is their revelation bound up with some new phase of humanity? You will know, race to be born; I know not, and I am departing.

François-René de Chateaubriand
My downfall made a great noise: those who appeared most satisfied criticized the manner of it.

François-René de Chateaubriand
Every institution goes through three stages — utility, privilege, and abuse.

François-René de Chateaubriand
A moral character is attached to autumnal scenes; the leaves falling like our years, the flowers fading like our hours, the clouds fleeting like our illusions, the light diminishing like our intelligence, the sun growing colder like our affections, the rivers becoming frozen like our lives—all bear secret relations to our destinies.

François-René de Chateaubriand
I am Bourbon as a matter of honour, royalist according to reason and conviction, and republican by taste and character.

François-René de Chateaubriand
Love is blind: that is why he always proceeds by the sense of touch.

François-René de Chateaubriand
Genius creates, and taste preserves. Taste is the good sense of genius; without taste, genius is only sublime folly.

François-René de Chateaubriand
As long as the heart preserves desire, the mind preserves illusion.

François-René de Chateaubriand
Certain importunities always please women — even when the importuner does not please.

François-René de Chateaubriand