Andre Gide Quotations
Andre Gide was a French author, humanist, and moralist who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947. Gide has always appealed to different audiences: a traditional psychological novelist to some and an innovative modern writer to others; he was a major literary critic, social crusader, and spokesperson for homosexual rights, at a time in our social history when doing so was extremely controversial. Although The Roman Catholic Church placed his works on the ‘Index of Forbidden Books’ in 1952, Gide’s search for self – the underlying theme of his several works – remained essentially religious. Throughout his career Gide used his writings to examine moral questions and his books influenced a generation of young writers, including the existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus.
Image: Photograph of Andre Gide, French author, humanist, and moralist
“Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.”
“Fish die belly upward, and rise to the surface. It’s their way of falling.”
“Nothing is so silly as the expression of a man who is being complimented.”
“The color of truth is gray.”
“Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.”
“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.”
“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not.”
“True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one’s own the sufferings and joy of others.”
“Art is collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.”
“Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself – and thus make yourself indispensable.”
“If a young writer can refrain from writing, he shouldn’t hesitate to do so.”
“It is not always by plugging away at a difficulty and sticking at it that one overcomes it; but rather, often by working on the one next to it. Certain people and certain things require they be approached on an angle.”
“Nothing excellent can be done without leisure.”
– Andre Gide (1869-1951)
