Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

Jealousy is not at all low, but it catches us humbled and bowed down at first sight.

A woman who thinks she is intelligent demands the same rights as man. An intelligent woman gives up.

I love my past, I love my present. I am not ashamed of what I have had, and I am not sad because I no longer have it.

The lovesick, the betrayed and the jealous all smell alike.

The true traveler is he who goes on foot, and even then he sits down a lot of the time.

There are days when solitude is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall.

To a poet silence is an acceptable response, even a flattering one.

My true friends have always given me that supreme proof of devotion a spontaneous aversion for the man I loved.

Look for a long time at what pleases you and a longer time at what pains you.

Sincerity is not a spontaneous flower nor is modesty either.

The woman who thinks she is intelligent demands equal rights with men. A woman who is intelligent does not.

As for an authentic villain the real thing the absolute the artist one rarely meets him even once in a lifetime. The ordinary bad hat is always in part a decent fellow.

On this narrow planet we have only the choice between two unknown worlds. One of them tempts us - ah! what a dream to live in that! - the other stifles us at the first breath.

You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.

Never touch a butterfly's wing with your finger.

Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth without pity and destroy most of it.

A pretty little collection of weaknesses and a terror of spiders are our indispensable stock-in-trade with the men.

Total absence of humor renders life impossible.

It is wise to apply the oil of refined politeness to the mechanism of friendship.

Smokers male and female inject and excuse idleness in their lives every time they light a cigarette.

No temptation can ever be measured by the value of its object.

Be happy. It's one way of being wise.

There is no need to waste pity on young girls who are having their moments of disillusionment for in another moment they will recover their illusion.

I believe there are more urgent and honorable occupations than the incomparable waste of time we call suffering.

It is not a bad thing that children should occasionally and politely put parents in their place.

One keeps forgetting old age up to the very brink of the grave.

You will do foolish things but do them with enthusiasm.

You do not notice changes in what is always before you.

The faults of husbands are often caused by the excess virtues of their wives.

What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner.

If I can't have too many truffles I'll do without truffles.

A happy childhood is poor preparation for human contacts.

In its early stages insomnia is almost an oasis in which those who have to think or suffer darkly take refuge.

In the matter of furnishing, I find a certain absence of ugliness far worse than ugliness.

I am going away with him to an unknown country where I shall have no past and no name, and where I shall be born again with a new face and an untried heart.

January month of empty pockets! let us endure this evil month anxious as a theatrical producer's forehead.

Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.

Writing only leads to more writing.