1821-1881, Swiss Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism, and doubt.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Action]
Action is coarsened thought; thought becomes concrete, obscure, and unconscious.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Action]
An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Mistakes]
Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour springs and germinates no more.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Analysis]
Charm is the quality in others that makes us more satisfied with ourselves.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Charm]
Clever people will recognize and tolerate nothing but cleverness.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Intelligence and Intellectuals]
Cleverness is serviceable for everything, sufficient for nothing.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Cleverness]
Common sense is calculation applied to life.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Common Sense]
Common sense is the measure of the possible; it is composed of experience and prevision; it is calculation applied to life.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Common Sense]
Destiny has two ways of crushing us — by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Fate]
Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for talent is genius.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Genius]
Every life is a profession of faith, and exercises an inevitable and silent influence.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Influence]
For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Action]
Great men are true men, the men in whom nature has succeeded. They are not extraordinary — they are in the true order. It is the other species of men who are not what they ought to be.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Greatness]
He who asks of life nothing but the improvement of his own nature? is less liable than anyone else to miss and waste life.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Self-improvement]
If nationality is consent, the state is compulsion.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [State]
In every loving woman there is a priestess of the past — a pious guardian of some affection, of which the object has disappeared.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Lovers]
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.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Giving]
It is not what he had, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Character]
Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind.
Henri Frederic Amiel – [Life and Living]