Andre Gide

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

— Andre Gide

Most quarrels amplify a misunderstanding.

— Andre Gide

The sole art that suits me is that which, rising from unrest, tends toward serenity.

— Andre Gide

Nothing is so silly as the expression of a man who is being complimented.

— Andre Gide

Fish die belly upward, and rise to the surface. Its their way of falling.

— Andre Gide

Are you then unable to recognize unless it has the same sound as yours?

— Andre Gide

Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you.

— Andre Gide

A straight path never leads anywhere except to the objective.

— Andre Gide

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.

— Andre Gide

Man is more interesting than men. God made him and not them in his image. Each one is more precious than all.

— Andre Gide

It is not always by plugging away at a difficulty and sticking to it that one overcomes it; often it is by working on the one next to it. Some things and some people have to be approached obliquely, at an angle.

— Andre Gide

The most decisive actions of our life -- I mean those that are most likely to decide the whole course of our future -- are, more often than not, unconsidered.

— Andre Gide

Know thyself. A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever studies himself arrest his own development. A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly.

— Andre Gide

Only those things are beautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason.

— Andre Gide

Not everyone can be an orphan.

— Andre Gide

The abominable effort to take one's sins with one to paradise.

— Andre Gide

It is easier to lead men to combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labors of peace.

— Andre Gide

Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.

— Andre Gide

There is no prejudice that the work of art does not finally overcome.

— Andre Gide

It is good to follow one's own bent, so long as it leads upward.

— Andre Gide

Sin is whatever obscures the soul.

— Andre Gide

The most gifted natures are perhaps also the most trembling.

— Andre Gide

No theory is good unless it permits, not rest, but the greatest work. No theory is good except on condition that one use it to go on beyond.

— Andre Gide

Believe those who are seeking truth, doubt those who find it.

— Andre Gide

One doesn’t discover new lands without losing sight of the shore.

— Andre Gide