“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

— André Gide, Autumn Leaves (Feuillets d'automne, 1941, trans. Jeanine Parisier Plottel)

About André Gide

1869 – 1951

French writer, Nobel laureate in Literature (1947).

“We call "happiness" a certain set of circumstances that makes joy possible.”

“At times it seems to me that I am living my life backwards, and that at the approach of old age my real youth will begin.”

“Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself — and thus make yourself indispensable.”

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”

“If music be the food of love, play on.”

“Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.”

“Not to display anger or other emotions. To be free of passion and yet full of love.”

“I call upon you, young men, to obey your heart, and be the nobility of this land.”

“Give all to love; obey thy heart.”