Quotes – The Heights of Criticism

Very little achievement is required in order to pity another man’s shortcomings.

~George Eliot, Middlemarch

Quotes – Sycophancy

As long as a man is in command, be he the worst of fools, there are people around him committed to the belief that he commands well.

~Maurice Druon

Quotes – The Boldness of Stupidity

Stupidity is no bar to enterprise; on the contrary, it tends to conceal difficulties which an intelligent man would consider insuperable.

~Maurice Druon

Quotes – The Veracity of History

It is terrifying to think how much research is needed to determine the truth of even the most unimportant fact.

~Stendhal

Quotes – The Risks of a Regal Soul

It is a great misfortune to be born with the soul of a king if one is not destined to reign.

~Maurice Druon

Quotes – Foundations of Friendship

The best friendships are based on mutual interest and common plans for the future.

~Maurice Druon

Quotes – When Courage Falters

There are lists in which the bravest of warriors prove themselves singularly clumsy.

~Maurice Druon, The She Wolf

Quote – The Struggle For Success

What is success? A mysterious, indescribable power– a vigilance, a readiness, the awareness that simply by my presence I can exert pressure on the movements of life around me, the belief that life can be molded to my advantage. Happiness and success are inside us. We have to reach deep and hold tight. And the moment something begins to subside, to relax, to grow weary, then everything around us is turned loose, resists us, rebels, moved beyond our influence. And then it’s just one thing after another, one setback after another, and you’re finished.

~Thomas Buddenbrooks, in Buddenbrooks

Quotes – Beauty and Ability

Nature has frequently planted astonishing genius in men of monstrously ugly appearance.

~Giovanni Boccacio

Quotes – Life As Strategy

For life is a series of acts of choice, and each choice is at the same time a renunciation.

~Alexander Gray