Antoine Rivarol Quotations

Memory always obeys the commands of the heart.

It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit.

Man spends his life in reasoning on the past, in complaining of the present, in fearing future.

Oblivion is the rule and fame the exception, of humanity.

Gold like the sun, which melts wax, but hardens clay, expands great souls.

Speech is external thought, and thought internal speech.

Ideas are a capital that bears interest only in the hands of talent.

Generally speaking, there is more wit than talent in the world. Society swarms with witty people who lack talent.

The only thing wealth does for some people is to make them worry about losing it.

Of every ten persons who talk about you, nine will say something bad, and the tenth will say something good in a bad way.

To lose one's self in reverie, one must be either very happy, or very unhappy. Reverie is the child of extremes.

It is, no doubt, an immense advantage to have done nothing, but one should not abuse it.

Reason is the historian, but passions are the actors.

The world is governed by love,--self-love.

The most civilized people are as near to barbarism as the most polished steel is to rust. Nations, like metals, have only a superficial brilliancy.

The absolute ruler may be a Nero, but he is sometimes a Titus or Marc Aurelius; the people is often Nero, but never Marc Aurelius.

There are men who gain from their wealth only the fear of losing it.

The despotism of will in ideas is styled plan, project, character, obstinacy; its despotism in desires is called passion.

Opinions, theories, and systems pass by turns over the grindstone of time, which at first gives them brilliancy and sharpness, but finally wears them out.

The methods that help a man acquire a fortune are the very ones that keep him from enjoying it.

Very nice couplet, although there are dull stretches.

History is only time furnished with dates and rich with events.

The modest man has everything to gain, and the arrogant man everything to lose; for modesty has always to deal with generosity, and arrogance with envy.

The subtle sauce of malice is often indulged in by maidens of uncertain age, over their tea.

Reason is an historian, but the passions are actors.

True felicity consists of its own consciousness.

It is said that friendship between women is only a suspension of hostilities.

Mind is the partial side of men; the heart is everything.

Rumor, once started, rushes on like a river, until it mingles with, and is lost in the sea.

Women read each other at a single glance.

Youth is not the era of wisdom; let us therefore have due consideration.

The cunning tempter, by avoiding the grossness of vice, often silences objections.

Wrong is wrong; no fallacy can hide it, no subterfuge cover it so shrewdly but that the All-Seeing One will discover and punish it.

There is nothing so unready as readiness of wit.

Poverty treads close upon the heels of great and unexpected wealth.

The personal pronoun "I" should be the coat of arms of some individuals.

There is even the dignity of vice.

The woman who too easily and ardently yielded her devotion will find that its vitality, like a bright fire, soon consumes itself.

Silence never yet betrayed any one!

It has been very truly said that the mob has many heads, but no brains.

Vices are often habits rather than passions.

A fool may have his coat embroidered with gold, but it is a fool's coat still.

Cats don't caress us-they caress themselves on us.

What isn’t clear, isn’t French.

There are some women who are flirts upon principle; they consider it their duty to make themselves as pleasing as possible to every one.

Familiarity is the root of the closest friendships, as well as the interests hatreds.

Tenderness is the infancy of love.

Brave men do not boast nor bluster. Deeds, not words, speak for such.

Mutability is written upon all things.

If poverty makes man groan, he yawns in opulence. When fortune exempts us from labor, nature overwhelms us with time.

In general, indulgence for those we know is rarer than pity for those we know not.

Extremes produce reaction. Beware that our boasted civilization does not lapse into barbarism.

The mischief of children is seldom actuated by malice; that of grown-up people always is.

That which happens to the soil when it ceases to be cultivated by the social man happens to man himself when he foolishly forsakes society for solitude; the brambles grow up in his desert heart.

It is a notable circumstance that mothers who are themselves open to severe comments as to their, moral character, are generally most solicitous as to the virtuous behavior of their daughters.

To be ungrateful is to be unnatural. The head may be thus guilty, not the heart.

Indolence and stupidity are first cousins.

Obtuseness is sometimes a virtue.

It is not he who searches for praise who finds it.

Axioms are delightful in theory, but impossible in practice.

Familiarity is the root of the closest friendships, as well as the intensest hatreds