Quotes from Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve

In most men there exists a poet who died young, whom the man survived.

Nature wants us to enjoy life to the full and die without giving it a second thought; Christianity wants the opposite.

I have always thought that if we began for one moment to say what we thought, society would collapse.

If I had a device, it would be the true, the true only, leaving the beautiful and the good to settle matters afterwards as best they could.

Most celebrated men live in a condition of prostitution.

Tell me who admires you and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.