Alfred de Vigny

The first among mankind will always be those who make something imperishable out of a sheet of paper, a canvas, a piece of marble, or a few sounds

I have a private theory, Sir, that there are no heroes and no monsters in this world. Only children should be allowed to use these words

We have also set up for them an edifying project for a continuous mitigation of their own tyranny, ascribing to them an unshakeable faith in the triumph of virtue, as well as in the moral justification of their crimes. These are the theories of well-meaning children who see everything in black or white, dream of nothing but angels or demons, and have no idea of the incredible number of hypocritical masks of every color and shape and size which men use to conceal their features when they have passed the age of devotion to ideals and have abandoned themselves unrestrainedly to their egotistic desires

To hold power has always meant to manipulate idiots and circumstances; and those circumstances and those idiots, tossed together, bring about those coincidences to which even the greatest men confess they owe most of their fame

One is always a good master when one isn__ the master

Not one little fellow need fear that he will be forbidden to pluck his shining grape from the cluster of political Power, that fruit reputed to be so full of wealth and glory. Can__ every gang become a club? and every club an assembly? an assembly, a convention? a convention, a senate? and isn__ a senate meant to rule? And what senate ever ruled without a man to rule it? And what did it all require? _ Daring! _ Aha! Well said! _ What! is that all it takes? _ Yes, all! The ones who have arrived say so. _ Then courage, numskulls, give tongue and run for it! _ That__ how it__ done

Those intellectuals are our natural enemies; the only kind who are worth anything are the musicians and the dancers: they don__ insult anybody with their performances, and they neither sing nor dance politics. So I like them; but don__ let me hear a word about the rest

Observe this fact: in the history of mankind, every ruler who has lacked personal greatness has been forced to compensate for the deficiency by setting up the executioner at his right hand like a guardian angel

Oh, I have a habit of letting myself be lectured on the things I know best. I like to see if they are understood in the same way I understand; for there are many ways of knowing the same thing

Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the imitation of life?

Art ought never to be considered except in its relations with its ideal beauty.

Do you know that charming part of our country which has been called the garden of France - that spot where, amid verdant plains watered by wide streams, one inhales the purest air of heaven?

On the day when man told the story of his life to man, history was born.

I admit that I myself am far from having a complete command of every topic I touch on, but my knowledge of my subject is always greater than the interest or the understanding of my auditors. You see, there is one very good thing about mankind; the mediocre masses make very few demands of the mediocrities of a higher order, submitting stupidly and cheerfully to their guidance

Hope is the greatest madness. What can we expect of a world that we enter with the assurance of seeing our fathers and mothers die? A world where, if two beings love each other and give their lives to each other, both can be sure that one will watch the other perish?