It is sad, no doubt, to exhaust one's strength and one's days in cleaving the bosom of this jealous earth, which compels us to wring from it the treasures of its fertility, when a bit of the blackest and coarsest bread is, at the end of the day's work, the sole recompense and the sole profit attaching to so arduous a toil.
George SandIf people were not wicked I should not mind their being stupid; but, to our misfortune, they are both.
George Sand... the progress of the language has caused us to lose many old treasures. It is thus with all progress, and one must make the best of it.
George SandI love everything that makes up a milieu, the rolling of the carriages and the noise of the workmen in Paris, the cries of a thousand birds in the country, the movement of the ships on the waters. I love also absolute, profound silence, and, in short, I love everything that is around me, no matter where I am.
George SandThe old woman I shall become will be quite different from the woman I am now. Another I is beginning.
George SandAh! that Senate is a world of ice and darkness! It votes the destruction of peoples as the simplest and wisest thing; for its members themselves are moribund.
George SandI saw in 'the wandering Jew' the personification of the Jewish people, exiled in the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, they are once again extremely rich, owing to their unfailing rude greediness and their indefatigable activity. With their hard-heartedness that they extend toward people of other faiths and races they are at the point of making themselves kings of the world. This people can thank its obstinacy that France will be Judized within fifty years. Already some wise Jews prophesy this frankly.
George SandIt is a mistake to regard age as a downhill grade toward dissolution. The reverse is true. As one grows older, one climbs with surprising strides.
George SandOne never knows how much a family may grow; and when a hive is too full, and it is necessary to form a new swarm, each one thinks of carrying away his own honey.
George SandIf they are ignorant, they are despised, if learned, mocked. In love they are reduced to the status of courtesans. As wives they are treated more as servants than as companions. Men do not love them: they make use of them, they exploit them, and expect, in that way, to make them subject to the law of fidelity.
George SandTry to keep your soul young and quivering right up to old age, and to imagine right up to the brink of death that life is only beginning. I think that is the only way to keep adding to one's talent, and one's inner happiness.
George SandThe masses are still ungrateful or ignorant. They prefer murder, poisonings, and crimes generally to a literature possessed of style and feeling.
George SandOne wastes so much time, one is so prodigal of life, at twenty! Our days of winter count for double. That is the compensation of the old.
George SandExperience is always a trustworthy guide; it may not tell you everything, but it never lies.
George Sand[Failure is hard initially because] One knows what one has lost, but not what one may find [and learn from that failure]!
George Sand... everyone's free to embark on either a great clipper or a little fishing boat. An artist is an explorer who oughtn't to shrink from anything: it doesn't matter whether he goes to the left or the right -- his goal sanctifies all.
George SandNowadays it seems that moral education is no longer considered necessary. Attention is wholly centered on intelligence, while the heart life is ignored.
George SandNo one makes a revolution by himself; and there are some revolutions which humanity accomplishes without quite knowing how, because it is everybody who takes them in hand.
George SandFame and admiration weigh not a feather in the scale against friendship and love, for the heart languishes all the same.
George SandOne is happy as a result of one's own efforts, once one knows of the necessary ingredients of happiness-simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and, above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain.
George Sandwe do not die of anguish, we live on. We continue to suffer. We drink the cup drop by drop.
George SandAs far as I am concerned I would rather spend the rest of my life in prison than marry again.
George SandAnd I refused to make any sacrifices; for nothing on earth seemed more valuable than my peace of mind, my pleasure and my acclaim.
George SandSimplicity, a delicate silence about oneself, increases their worth and makes one love those whom one admires.
George Sand