Quotes from Henri Frederic Amiel

Common sense is the measure of the possible it is composed of experience and prevision it is calculation applied to life.

It is by teaching that we teach ourselves, by relating that we observe, by affirming that we examine, by showing that we look, by writing that we think, by pumping that we draw water into the well.

To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching. To attain it we must be able to guess what will interest we must learn to read the childish soul as we might a piece of music. Then, by simply changing the key, we keep up the attraction and vary the song.

The man who has no inner life is a slave to his surroundings.

Everything you need for better future and success has already been written. And guess what? All you have to do is go to the library.

It is not what he had, or even what he does, which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.

Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.

To win true peace, a man needs to feel himself directed, pardoned, and sustained by a supreme power, to feel himself in the right road, at the point where God would have him be - in order with God and the universe. This faith gives strength and calm.

Let us be true: this is the highest maxim of art and of life, the secret of eloquence and of virtue, and of all moral authority.

Destiny has two ways of crushing us - by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them.

Truth is the secret of eloquence and of virtue, the basis of moral authority; it is the highest summit of art and of life.

Every life is a profession of faith and exercises an inevitable and silent influence.

Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for others is genius.

In health there is freedom. Health is the first of all liberties.

Criticism is above all a gift, an intuition, a matter of tact and flair; it cannot be taught or demonstrated--it is an art.

The art which is grand and yet simple is that which presupposes the greatest elevation both in artist and in public.

To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching. To attain it we must be able to guess what will interest; we must learn to read the childish soul as we might a piece of music. Then, by simply changing the key, we keep up the attraction and vary the song.

The only substance properly so called is the soul.

Charm: the quality in others that makes us more satisfied with ourselves.

Society lives by faith, and develops by science.

Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.

Destiny has two ways of crushing us - by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them.

A modest garden contains, for those who know how to look and to wait, more instruction than a library.

Nothing resembles pride so much as discouragement.