1858-1915, French Novelist, Philosopher, Poet, Playwright
Each man must grant himself the emotions that he needs and the morality that suits him.
Remy De Gourmont – [Individuality]
If the secret of being a bore is to tell all, the secret of pleasing is to say just enough to be –not understood, but divined.
Remy De Gourmont – [Understanding]
Industry has operated against the artisan in favor of the idler, and also in favor of capital and against labor. Any mechanical invention whatsoever has been more harmful to humanity than a century of war.
Remy De Gourmont – [Industry]
Man associates ideas not according to logic or verifiable exactitude, but according to his pleasure and interests. It is for this reason that most truths are nothing but prejudices.
Remy De Gourmont – [Prejudice]
Man is the inventor of stupidity.
Remy De Gourmont – [Stupidity]
Nothing exists except by virtue of a disequilibrium, an injustice. All existence is a theft paid for by other existences; no life flowers except on a cemetery.
Remy De Gourmont – [Existence]
Of all the sexual aberrations, perhaps the most peculiar is chastity.
Remy De Gourmont – [Sex]
Science is the only truth and it is the great lie. It knows nothing, and people think it knows everything. It is misrepresented. People think that science is electricity, automobilism, and dirigible balloons. It is something very different. It is life devouring itself. It is the sensibility transformed into intelligence. It is the need to know stifling the need to live. It is the genius of knowledge vivisecting the vital genius.
Remy De Gourmont – [Science and Scientists]
Simple ideas lie within the reach only of complex minds.
Remy De Gourmont – [Simplicity]
The human mind is so complex and things are so tangled up with each other that, to explain a blade of straw, one would have to take to pieces an entire universe. A definition is a sack of flour compressed into a thimble.
Remy De Gourmont – [Definition]
The whole effort of a sincere man is to erect his personal impressions into laws.
Remy De Gourmont – [Critics and Criticism]
Very simple ideas lie within the reach only of complex minds
Remy De Gourmont – [Ideas]
We live less and less, and we learn more and more. Sensibility is surrendering to intelligence.
Remy De Gourmont – [Education]
Women still remember the first kiss after men have forgotten the last.
Remy De Gourmont – [Men and Women]