“There is no feeling so simple that it is not immediately complicated and distorted by introspection.”

— André Gide, Pretexts (1964), "An Unprejudiced Mind," p. 317

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.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”