Quotes from Georges Bernanos

There remains the unforseen. And the unforseen is never negligible.

I have no ambition to change my nature, I merely intend to conquer my dislikes.

Je crois, je suis sûr que beaucoup d'hommes n'engagent jamais leur être, leur sincérité profonde. Ils vivent à la surface d'eux-mêmes, et le sol humain est si riche que cette mince couche superficielle suffit pour une maigre moisson, qui donne l'illusion d'une véritable destinée.

For those who have the habit of prayer, thought is too often a mere alibi, a sly way of deciding to do what one wants to do. Reason will always obscure what we wish to keep in the shadows. A worldling can think out the pros and cons and sum up his chances. No doubt. But what are our chances worth? We who have admitted once and for all into each moment of our puny lives the terrifying presence of God?...What is the use of working out chances? There are no chances against God.

The work God carries out in us,' he said after a short pause, 'is not often what we expect. A great deal of the time the Holy Spirit seems to be working backward in us and wasting time. If a lump of iron could form an idea of the file that's slowly rough-shaping it, how furious it would be! Yet that's how God shapes us. Certain saints' lives seem horribly monotonous and desolate.

I believe, in fact I am certain, that many men never give out the whole of themselves, their deepest truth. They live on the surface, and yet, so rich is the soil of humanity that even this thin outer layer is able to yield a kind of meager harvest which gives the illusion of real living.

Tiens, une ville qu'on traverse la nuit, et tout à coup tu dépasses la dernière maison, tu retombes dans le silence, comme dans le vide.

We pay a heavy, very heavy price for the superhuman dignity of our calling. The ridiculous is always so near to the sublime. And the world, usually so indulgent to foibles, hates ours instinctively.

On ne comprend absolument rien à la civilisation moderne si l'on n'admet pas tout d'abord qu'elle est une conspiration universelle contre toute espèce de vie intérieure.

O miracle—thus to be able to give [peace] we ourselves do not possess, sweet miracle of our empty hands!

Lust is a mysterious wound in the side of humanity; or rather, at the very source of its life! To confound this lust in man with that desire which unites the sexes is like confusing a tumor with the very organ which it devours, a tumor whose very deformity horribly reproduces the shape.

Civilization exists precisely so that there may be no masses but rather men alert enough never to constitute masses.

A man given to vice is always an idealist.

The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.

It's a fine thing to rise above pride, but you must have pride in order to do so.

Faith is not a thing which one loses, we merely cease to shape our lives by it.

Rather than the obsession with impurity, you'd do better to fear the nostalgia for purity.

Fear, true fear, is a savage frenzy. Of all the insanities of which we are capable, it is surely the cruelest. There is naught to equal its drive, and naught can survive its thrust.

Fear true fear is a savage frenzy. Of all the insanities of which we are capable it is surely the most cruel.

Hell, madam, is to love no longer