Researchers, with science as their authority, will be able to cut animals up, alive, into small pieces, drop them from a great height to see if they are shattered by the fall, or deprive them of sleep for sixteen days and nights continuously for the purposes of an iniquitous monograph. . . . Animal trust, undeserved faith, when at last will you turn away from us? Shall we never tire of deceiving, betraying, tormenting animals before they cease to trust us?
Sidonie Gabrielle ColetteVoluptuaries, consumed by their senses, always begin by flinging themselves with a great display of frenzy into an abyss. But they survive, they come to the surface again. And they develop a routine of the abyss: It's four o clock. At five I have my abyss.
Sidonie Gabrielle ColetteI am going away with him to an unknown country where I shall have no past and no name, and where I shall be born again with a new face and an untried heart.
Sidonie Gabrielle ColetteWhen she raises her eyelids it's as if she were taking off all her clothes.
Sidonie Gabrielle ColetteLook for a long time at what pleases you, and a longer time at what pains you.
Sidonie Gabrielle ColetteOn the first of May, with my comrades of the catechism class, I laid lilac, chamomile and rose before the altar of the Virgin, and returned full of pride to show my blessed posy. My mother laughed her irreverent laugh and, looking at my bunch of flowers, which was bringing the may-bug into the sitting-room right under the lamp, she said: Do you suppose it wasn't already blessed before?
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette