I knew what I took upon myself and I was prepared to lose my life by so doing.
Hans Scholl’s explanation of his and his sister Sophie’s opposition to Germany regime. He and his sister were beheaded by the German government on February 22, 1943, having been found guilty of high treason for writing, producing and distributing political pamphlets.
No man thinks there is much ado about nothing when the ado is about himself.
Anthony Trollope, The Bertrams (1859), Ch. 27.
On ne découvre pas de terre nouvelle sans consentir
à perdre de vue, d’abord et longtemps, tout rivage.
One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.
André Gide, Les faux-monnayeurs [The Counterfeiters] (1925).
La liberté n’est pas un échange, c’est la liberté.
Freedom is not an exchange — it is freedom.
André Malraux, La condition humaine [Man’s Fate] (1933).
Revolt against a tyrant is legitimate; it can succeed. Revolt against human nature is doomed to failure.
André Maurois, Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939).
Toutes choses sont dites déjà; mais comme
personne n’écoute, il faut toujours recommencer.
Everything has already been said; but since nobody listens we must say it all over again.
André Gide, Le Traité du Narcisse (Théorie du Symbole).