WIST Quotations

Anouilh, Jean -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:28:30 +0000

There will come a day for each of us, more or less sad, more or less distant, when we must accept the condition of being human.

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
(Attributed)

Anouilh, Jean -- Antigone (1942)

Dave — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:14:54 +0000

CREON: To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It’s easy to say no, even if it means dying.

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Antigone (1942)

Anouilh, Jean -- Antigone (1942)

Dave — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:59:03 +0000

CHORUS: It is restful, tragedy, because one knows that there is no more lousy hope left. You know you’re caught, caught at last like a rat with all the world on its back. And the only thing left to do is shout — not moan, or complain, but yell out at the top of your voice whatever it was you had to say. What you’ve never said before. What perhaps you don’t even know till now.

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Antigone (1942)

Anouilh, Jean -- Becket or The Honor of God [Becket ou l’honneur de Dieu], Act 1 (1959)

Dave — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:15:21 +0000

BECKET: Until the day of his death, no man can be sure of his courage.

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Becket or The Honor of God [Becket ou l’honneur de Dieu], Act 1 (1959)

Anouilh, Jean -- Becket or The Honor of God [Becket ou l’honneur de Dieu], Act 3 (1959)

Dave — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:28:21 +0000

BECKET: Saintliness is also a temptation.

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Becket or The Honor of God [Becket ou l’honneur de Dieu], Act 3 (1959)

Anouilh, Jean -- Becket, Act 1 (1959) [tr. Hill (1960)]

Dave — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 21:09:19 +0000

BECKET: Beauty is one of the few things which don’t shake one’s faith in God.

[Le beauté est une des rares choses qui ne font pas douter de Dieu.]

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Becket, Act 1 (1959) [tr. Hill (1960)]
(Source)

The official English translation approved by Anouilh. (Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Beauty is one of the very few things that don't shake one's faith in God.
[tr. Raphael and Raphael (2004)]

Beauty is one of the rare things that do not lead to doubt of God.
[Frequently found translation, but source unknown]

Anouilh, Jean -- Becket, Act 2 (1959) [tr. Hill (1961)

Dave — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 20:41:43 +0000

KING : Am I the strongest or am I not?
BECKET: You are, today. But one must never drive one’s enemy to despair. It makes him strong. Gentleness is better politics. It saps virility. A good occupational force must never crush, it must corrupt.

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Becket, Act 2 (1959) [tr. Hill (1961)
(Source)

The lines remain intact in Edward Anhalt's 1964 screenplay.

Anouilh, Jean -- Cecile; or The School for Fathers [L’Ecole Des Peres] [The Chevalier] (1951) [tr. Klein (1956)]

Dave — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 18:04:29 +0000

But one cannot weep for the entire world. It is beyond human strength. One must choose.

[On ne peut pleurer pour le monde entier : C’est au-delà des forces humaines. Il faut choisir!]

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Cecile; or The School for Fathers [L’Ecole Des Peres] [The Chevalier] (1951) [tr. Klein (1956)]
(Source)

Anouilh, Jean -- Cécile (1954)

Dave — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:34:45 +0000

LE CHEVALIER: One cannot weep for the entire world, it is beyond human strength. One must choose.

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Cécile (1954)

Anouilh, Jean -- La Sauvage [The Restless Heart], Act 3 [Thérèse] (1934) [tr. Pronko (1961)]

Dave — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 22:14:57 +0000

There will always be a lost dog somewhere that will prevent me being happy.

[Il y aura toujours un chien perdu quelque part qui m’empêchera d’être heureux.]

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
La Sauvage [The Restless Heart], Act 3 [Thérèse] (1934) [tr. Pronko (1961)]
(Source)

Alternate translation:

There will always be a stray dog somewhere in the world who'll stop me being happy.
[tr. Hill (1957)]

Anouilh, Jean -- Léocadia [Time Remembered], Act 2, sc. 2 [Duchess] (1939) [tr. Moyes (1955)]

Dave — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 22:14:06 +0000

When you’re forty, half of you belongs to the past — and when you’re seventy, nearly all of you —

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Léocadia [Time Remembered], Act 2, sc. 2 [Duchess] (1939) [tr. Moyes (1955)]
(Source)

Anouilh, Jean -- Mademoiselle Colombe, Act 2, sc. 2 (1950) [tr. Kronenberger (1954)]

Dave — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 19:00:18 +0000

Things are beautiful if you love them.

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Mademoiselle Colombe, Act 2, sc. 2 (1950) [tr. Kronenberger (1954)]
(Source)

Anouilh, Jean -- Roméo et Jeannette, Act 3 (1946) [tr. (1949)]

Dave — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 23:33:32 +0000

To die is nothing. Begin by living. It’s less funny and lasts longer.

[Mourir, ce n’est rien. Commence donc par vivre. C’est moins drôle et c’est plus long.]

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Roméo et Jeannette, Act 3 (1946) [tr. (1949)]

Anouilh, Jean -- The Lark [L’Alouette] (1952)

Dave — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:10:40 +0000

ARCHBISHOP: With God, what is terrible is that one never knows whether it’s not just a trick of the devil.

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
The Lark [L’Alouette] (1952)