Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve quotes

Despair itself if it goes on long enough, can become a kind of sanctuary in which one settles down and feels at ease. (Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve)
A philosophical thought has probably not attained all its sharpness and all its illumination until it is expressed in French. View quote
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Since it is necessary to have enemies, let us endeavour to have those who do us honour. View quote
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
To lend freshness to things known, to spread knowledge of things new; an excellent program for a critic. View quote
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Let us beware of irony when making judgements. Of all the dispositions of the mind, irony is the least intelligent. View quote
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Most often we are judging not others, but rather our own faculties in others. View quote
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
...I can savor a work, but it is difficult for me to judge it independently from the author, and I would gladly say, as is the tree, so is the fruit. View quote
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
For the soul arrives therebye at a certain fixed and invincible state, a state which is genuinely heroic, and from out of which the greatest deeds it ever performs are executed. View quote
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Silence is the sovereign contempt. View quote
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Injustice...is a mother who is never barren, and bears children worthy of her. View quote
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
It has often passed through my mind, says Gourville, that men have their properties almost as herbs, and that their happiness consists in having been destined or [being] destined for the things for which they were born. (Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve)