Sophie Swetchine Quotes

The world has no sympathy with any but positive griefs. It will pity you for what you lose; never for what you lack

Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and the serious part of frivolous ones.

We reform others unconsciously when we walk uprightly.

There is a transcendent power in example.

To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.

Silence is like nightfall. Objects are lost in it insensibly.

The chains which cramp us most are those which weigh on us least.

The mind wears the colors of the soul, as a valet those of his master.

He who has never denied himself for the sake of giving has but glanced at the joys of charity.

Strength alone knows conflict, weakness is born vanquished.

In youth we feel richer for every new illusion; in maturer years, for every one we lose.

Old age is not one of the beauties of creation, but it is one of its harmonies. The law of contrasts is one of the laws of beauty. Under the conditions of our climate, shadow gives light its worth; sternness enhances mildness; solemnity, splendor. Varying proportions of size support and subserve one another.

Let us not fail to scatter along our pathway the seeds of kindness and sympathy. Some of them will doubtless perish; but if one only lives, it will perfume our steps and rejoice our eyes.

Since there must be chimeras, why is not perfection the chimera of all men?

Our vanity is the constant enemy of our dignity.

A malicious enemy is better than a clumsy friend.

Love enters the heart unawares: takes precedence of all the emotions--or, at least, will be second to none--and even reflection becomes its accomplice. While it lives, it renders blind; and when it has struck its roots deep only itself can shake them. It reminds one of hospitality as practiced among the ancients. The stranger was received upon the threshold of the half-open door, and introduced into the sanctuary reserved for the Penates. Not until every attention had been lavished upon him did the host ask his name; and the question was sometimes deferred till the very moment of departure.

We recognize the action of God in great things: we exclude it in small. We forget that the Lord of eternity is also the Lord of the hour.

There are two ways of attaining an important end, force and perseverance; the silent power of the latter grows irresistible with time.

We are all of us, in this world, more or less like St. January, whom the inhabitants of Naples worship one day, and pelt with baked apples the next.

Love sometimes elevates, creates new qualities, suspends the working of evil inclinations; but only for a day. Love, then, is an Oriental despot, whose glance lifts a slave from the dust, and then consigns him to it again.

By becoming unhappy, we sometimes learn how to be less so.

The best of lessons, for a good many people, would be to listen at a keyhole. It is a pity for such that the practice is dishonorable.

Providence has hidden a charm in difficult undertakings, which is appreciated only by those who dare to grapple with them.

Loving souls are like paupers. They live on what is given them.

One must be a somebody before they can have an enemy. One must be a force before he can be resisted by another force.

There are words which are worth as much as the best actions, for they contain the germ of them all.

Might we not say to the confused voices which sometimes arise from the depths of our being: "Ladies, be so kind as to speak only four at a time?"

Only those faults which we encounter in ourselves are insufferable to us in others.

We expect everything and are prepared for nothing.

The best advice on the art of being happy is about as easy to follow as advice to be well when one is sick.

Repentance is accepted remorse.

We deceive ourselves when we fancy that only weakness needs support. Strength needs it far more.

To have ideas is to gather flowers; to think is to weave them into garlands.

Youth should be a savings bank.

A friendship will be young after the lapse of half a century; a passion is old at the end of three months.

Death is the justification of all the ways of the Christian, the last end of all his sacrifices, the touch of the Great Master which completes the picture.

The injustice of men subserves the justice of God, and often His mercy.

The heart has always the pardoning power.

Friendship is like those ancient altars where the unhappy, and even the guilty, found a sure asylum.

There are minds constructed like the eyes of certain insects, which discern, with admirable distinctness, the most delicate lineaments and finest veins of the leaf which bears them, but are totally unable to take in the ensemble of the plant or shrub. When error has effected an entrance into such minds, it remains there impregnable, because no general view assists them in throwing off the chance impression of the moment.

Respect is a serious thing in him who feels it, and the height of honor for him who inspires the feeling.

Attention is a silent and perpetual flattery.

A good, finished scandal, fully armed and equipped, such as circulates in the world, is rarely the production of a single individual, or even of a single coterie. It sees the light in one; is rocked and nurtured in another; is petted, developed, and attains its growth in a third; and receives its finishing touches only after passing through a multitude of hands. It is a child that can count a host of fathers--all ready to disown it.

Life grows darker as we go on, till only one pure light is left shining on it; and that is faith. Old age, like solitude and sorrow, has its revelations.

Our faults afflict us more than our good deeds console. Pain is ever uppermost in the conscience as in the heart.

God has prohibited despair.

Consolation heaps without contact; somewhat like the blessed air which we need but to breathe.

Antiquity is a species of aristocracy with which it is not easy to be on visiting terms.

Indulgence is lovely in the sinless; toleration, adorable in the pious and believing heart.