“Tell me what you read and I’ll tell you who you are” is true enough, but I’d know you better if you told me what you re-read.
François Mauriac (1885-1970) French author, critic, journalist
(Attributed)
Quotations by:
Mauriac, Francois
Very little would have been needed for the tears of Judas to be allied in the memory of mankind with those of Peter. He might have become a saint, the patron of all of us who constantly betray Christ.
[Il s’en est fallu de très peu que les larmes de Judas ne fussent confondues, dans le souvenir des hommes, avec celles de Pierre. Il aurait pu devenir un saint, le patron de nous tous qui ne cessons de trahir.]
François Mauriac (1885-1970) French author, critic, journalist
Life of Jesus [Vie de Jésus] (1936) [tr. Kernan (1937)]
(Source)
Most men resemble great deserted palaces: the owner occupies only a few rooms and has closed-off wings where he never ventures.
[Presque tous les hommes ressemblent à ces grands palais déserts dont le propriétaire n’habite que quelques pièces; et il ne pénètre jamais dans les ailes condamnées.]
François Mauriac (1885-1970) French author, critic, journalist
Second Thoughts: Reflections on Literature and on Life (1961) [tr. Foulke]
Where does discipline end? Where does cruelty begin? Somewhere between these, thousands of children inhabit a voiceless hell.
[Où finit la correction? Où commence le martyre? Dans l’entre-deux, des milliers d’enfants peuplent un enfer qui ne fait pas de bruit.]
François Mauriac (1885-1970) French author, critic, journalist
Second Thoughts: Reflections on Literature and on Life (1961) [tr. Foulke]