François Mauriac quotes - page 2

This God who, as the psalmist said, built His tabernacles in the sun, now establishes Himself in the very core of the flesh and the blood. (François Mauriac)
The grandeur of man lies in song, not in thought. View quote
François Mauriac
The arrogance of poets is only a defense; doubt gnaws the greatest among them; they need our testimony to escape despair. View quote
François Mauriac
Let us be wary of ready-made ideas about cowardice and courage: the same burden weighs infinitely more heavily on some shoulders than on others. View quote
François Mauriac
I believe that only poetry counts... A great novelist is first of all a great poet. View quote
François Mauriac
The myth of Prometheus means that all the sorrows of the world have their seat in the liver. But it needs a brave man to face so humble a truth. View quote
François Mauriac
One can touch a living soul through a curtain of vice and crime no matter how dense and dark: but vulgarity is an insurmountable barrier. View quote
François Mauriac
What makes a poet is, surely, the love of these things, a desperate search for the tiny ray of sunshine which used to flicker on the floor of a child's bedroom. View quote
François Mauriac
Somewhere between these, thousands of children inhabit a voiceless hell. View quote
François Mauriac
Very little would have been needed for the tears of Judas to be allied in the memory of mankind with those of Peter. View quote
François Mauriac
The effort of explaining, even of expressing himself, had become, with the years, more and more terrifying to him. Whether from laziness or from inability to find the right words, he had developed almost a passion for silence. (François Mauriac)
I write whenever it suits me. During a creative period I write every day; a novel should not be interrupted. View quote
François Mauriac
I remained standing in the middle of the room, swaying on my feet as though I had received a blow. I thought of my life and saw what it had been. No one could swim against such a current of mud. I had been a man so horrible that he could have no friend. But wasn't that, I asked myself, because I had always been incapable of wearing a disguise? If all men went through life with unmasked faces, as I had done for half a century, one might be surprised to find how little difference there was between them. But, in fact, no one lives with his face uncovered, no one. Most men ape greatness or nobility. Though they do not know it, they conform to certain fixed types, literary or other. This the saints know, and they hate and despise themselves because they see themselves with unclouded eyes. I should not have been so universally condemned had I not been so defenseless, so open, and so naked. View quote
François Mauriac