I have a remarkable memory; I forget everything. It is wonderfully convenient. It is as though the world were constantly renewing itself for me.
Jules RenardWhen the defects of others are perceived with so much clarity, it is because one possesses them oneself.
Jules RenardI have no religion,’ says Borneau, ‘but I respect the religion of others. Religion is sacred.’ Why this privilege, this immunity?... A believer creates God in his own image; if he is ugly, his God will be morally ugly. Why should moral ugliness be respectable?
Jules RenardIn the most complete friendship there is always a little empty space, like the space in an egg.
Jules RenardAn optimist is a driver who thinks that empty space at the curb won't have a hydrant beside it.
Jules RenardWords are the coins making up the currency of sentences, and there are always too many small coins.
Jules RenardIt is in the midst of the city that one writes the most inspiring pages about the country.
Jules RenardWe are ignorant of the Beyond because this ignorance is the condition of our own life. Just as ice cannot know fire except by melting and vanishing.
Jules RenardIt astounds us to come upon other egoists, as though we alone had the right to be selfish, and to be filled with eagerness to live.
Jules RenardTalent is a question of quantity. Talent does not write one page; it writes three hundred.
Jules RenardI am afraid I shall not find him, but I shall still look for him, for if he exists, he may be appreciative of my efforts.
Jules RenardIt is more difficult to be an honorable man for a week than to be a hero for fifteen minutes.
Jules RenardWe don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it
Jules RenardHow many people have wanted to kill themselves, and have been content with tearing up their photograph!
Jules RenardThe story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it.
Jules RenardIf one were to build the house of happiness, the largest space would be the waiting room.
Jules RenardWhen I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness.
Jules RenardIn literature, there are only oxen. The biggest ones are the geniuses-the ones who toil eighteen hours a day without tiring.
Jules RenardWriting is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.
Jules RenardThe strong do not hesitate. They settle down, they sweat, they go on to the end. They exhaust the ink, they use up the paper.
Jules RenardHow describe the delicate thing that happens when a brilliant insect alights on a flower? Words, with their weight, fall upon the picture like birds of prey.
Jules Renard