Edmond de Goncourt
Edmond de Goncourt
Edmond de Goncourt, born Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt, was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth26 May 1822
CountryFrance
leaving temptation sin
I have always derived indescribable pleasure from leading a decent woman to the edge of sin and leaving her there to live between the temptation and the fear of that sin.
despair infinity debauchery
Debauchery is perhaps an act of despair in the face of infinity.
genius talent persons
Genius is the talent of a person who is dead.
safe moral painting
As a general truth, it is safe to say that any picture that produces a moral impression is a bad picture.
betrayal men mind
Man is a mind betrayed, not served, by his organs.
firsts facts matter
The facts: nothing matters but the facts: worship of the facts leads to everything, to happiness first of all and then to wealth.
war missing society
I feel sure that coups d'état would go much better if there were seats, boxes, and stalls so that one could see what was happening and not miss anything.
years civilization world
Barbarism is needed every four or five hundred years to bring the world back to life. Otherwise it would die of civilization.
laughter laughing mind
Laughter is the mind's intonation. There are ways of laughing which have the sound of counterfeit coins.
children class ordinary
Princes enjoy themselves like children in the company of ordinary human beings.
simple civilization fairy-stories
People don't like the true and simple; they like fairy tales and humbug.
statistics firsts
Statistics is the first of the inexact sciences.
honest individual crooked
The English are crooked as a nation and honest as individuals. The contrary is true of the French, who are honest as a nation and crooked as individuals.
memories book men
One of the proud joys of the man of letters --if that man of letters is an artist is to feel within himself the power to immortalize at will anything he chooses to immortalize. Insignificant though he may be, he is conscious of possessing a creative divinity. God creates lives; the man of imagination creates fictional lives which may make a profound and as it were more living impression on the world's memory.