The Letters of Madame De Sevigne to Her Daughter and Friends
Marie Rabutin-Chantal De Sevigne
Top 10 Best Quotes
“Think,—but no; think of nothing, leave the business of thought to me, in my long shady alleys, whose dreary melancholy will add to mine; I shall walk there long enough before I shall find the treasure I had with me the last time I was in them.”
“Love me for my affection, love me even for my weakness; I am satisfied myself. I prefer my feelings to all the fine sentiments of Seneca or Epictetus.”
“I experience every day the truth of what you once told me, that there are certain thoughts which are not to be dwelt upon, but passed over as lightly as possible, unless we would be forever in tears: that is my case: for there is not a place in the house which does not give a stab to my heart when I see it: but your room especially deals a deadly blow from every part of it.”
“As for me, I appear to myself quite naked, divested of everything that made me agreeable: I am ashamed to appear in society; and notwithstanding the endeavors that have been used to bring me back to it, I have latterly been like one just come out of the woods; nor could I be otherwise. Few are worthy of understanding what I feel; I have sought those chosen few, and avoided all others.”
“You tell me, my dear child, you wish Time would fly more rapidly: alas! You know not what you say. He will obey you but too implicitly; he will overtake you before you are aware, and when you would restrain his impetuous career, it will not be in your power. I was formerly guilty of the same fault, of which I now repent; and, though he has been more lenient with me than he has been with many others, yet I trace his depredating progress in the loss of a thousand little charms, of which he has robbed me.”
“We are never satisfied with having done well, and In endeavoring to do better, do much worse.”
“The other day I made a maxim off-hand without once thinking of it; and I liked it so well that I fancied I had taken it out of M. de La Rochefoucauld’s; … Pray where did this come from? have I read it? or did I dream it? or is it my own idea? Nothing can be truer than the thing itself, nor than that I am totally ignorant how I came by it. I found it properly arranged in my brain, and at the end of my tongue.”
“Nothing is so capable of overturning a good intention as to show distrust of it; to be suspected for an enemy is often sufficient to make a person become one.”
“Never, surely, was anything more easily awakened as my affection for you; a thousand circumstances, a thousand thoughts, a thousand remembrances, occupy my heart; but always in the manner you could wish; my memory presents me with nothing but pleasing images of your amiable qualities; I hope yours does the same.”
“I prose on with a facility that wearies you to death.”
Except where otherwise noted, all rights reserved to the author(s) of this book (mentioned above). The content of this page serves solely as promotional material for the aforementioned book. If you enjoyed these quotes, you can support the author(s) by acquiring the full book from Amazon.
Book Keywords:
stoicism-overrated, empty-nester, love, feelings, time, sensibility, writing, long-winded, intimate-friends, making-enemies, trust, stoicism, empty-nest, aging, unsatisfied-with-success, invention, loneliness, missing-someone, loquacity, mother-daughter-relationship, youth, ambition, memories, private-thoughts
