Quotes from Maurice Druon

It is to be remarked that, during this period, nearly all the women at the Court of France were called either Jeanne or Marguerite and the men Philippe, Charles or Louis, which does not make the historian's task any the easier and has frequently given rise to confusion.

Beside London Bridge, the Ponte Vecchio at Florence seemed but a mere trifle in Guccio's memory, and the Arno a brook compared with the Thames. He said so to his companion. 'All the same we teach them everything,' the latter replied.

more or less in keeping with the intuition, common to the greater part of men, that death is a falling into a dark and immense silence, into an indefinite unconsciousness.

Days lived, whether full or empty, whether busy or serene, are but days gone by, and the ashes of the past weigh the same in every hand. Had

Each one of us has his shining hour in the events of his century. On one occasion it may be Monseigneur of Kent, on another Monseigneur of Lancaster, some other on a previous occasion and yet another on a later, whom the event illumines because of the decisive part he plays in it. Thus is made the history of the world.

Prince Edward confirmed the sentence; but he was reflecting deeply and beginning silently to form views as to how a man destined to great responsibilities should behave. To listen before speaking, to inform yourself before judging, to understand before deciding, and to remember always that there were to be found in every man the springs both of the highest as well as the lowest actions: these, for a sovereign, were the first steps towards wisdom.

The Creator was immensely wise and charitable when He forbade us knowledge of the future, while He has vouchsafed us the delights of memory and the enchantments of hope.

Litigation can become as great a passion as gambling.

There are no advantageous defeats, but there can be disastrous victories.

El hombre se asemeja a un ciego que niega la luz porque no la ve. ¡La luz es un hondo misterio para el ciego!

Funny weather today,' said the ferryman, bending slowly to his oars. 'In the morning you wake up to such a mist that you can't see two fathoms distance. And then about ten o'clock out comes the sun. One says to oneself "Here's spring on the way". And no sooner said than hailstorms set in for the afternoon. And now the wind's getting up, and there's going to be quite a blow, that's certain. Funny weather.

I'm doing the best I can. Getting old, that's what it is. I'll be fifty-three at the feast of Saint Michael. I'm no longer as strong as you are, young sirs,' said the ferryman.

On lui donnait le moyen de se sauver seul. Tout homme sensé, à qui l'on fait une proposition de cette sorte, la considère, et n'en a que plus de mérite lorsqu'il la repousse. (Le roi de fer, partie 3, ch. 6, p. 322)

Les hommes de nature infidèle, si infatués qu'ils paraissent, sont souvent assez modestes en amour, parce qu'ils imaginent les autres d'après eux-mêmes. (Le roi de fer, partie 3, ch. 7, p. 328)

Merely by living, man becomes degraded and loses in purity what he gains in power. However clear a spring may be, when it becomes a river it cannot help being polluted by mud and slime.

You know what the common people are like,' said Artevelde; 'they never know their own strength till the moment for using it has passed.

Chaque homme, parce qu'il croît un peu que le monde est né en même temps que lui, souffre, au moment de quitter la vie, de laisser l'univers inachevé. À plus forte raison un roi. (Le roi de fer, partie 3, ch. 9, p. 350)

De ce visage en feu, la voix effrayante proféra : "Pape Clément!... Chevalier Guillaume!... Roi Philippe!... Avant un an, je vous cite à paraître au tribunal de Dieu pour y recevoir votre juste châtiment ! Maudits ! Maudits ! tous maudits jusqu'à la treizième génération de vos races!...

The Grand Master felt surging within him one of those half-crazy rages which had so often come upon him in his prison, making him shout aloud and beat the walls. He felt that he was upon the point of committing some violent and terrible act – he did not know exactly what – but he felt the impulse to do something.

Gracias, Señor, Dios mío, por haberme dejado el odio. Es la única fuerza que me sostiene.

Les médiocres me tolère que d'être entourés de flateurs qui leur cachent à eux-même leur médiocrité.

On oublierait vite qu'il (le Roi Phillipe le Bel, apres sa mort) avait musele les puissances, maintenu la paix autant qu'il etait possible, reforme les lois, bati des frotresses pour qu'on put semer a l'abri, unifie les provinces, convie les bourgeois a s'assembler pour donner des avis, et vielle en toutes les choses a l'independence de la France.

God does not need to intervene directly to punish perjury, and the heavens may remain dumb. The wicked bear within themselves the seeds of their own misfortunes.

Es imposible impedir la guerra cuando los ejércitos comenzaron a marchar.