“To know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one's freedom.”

— André Gide, The Immoralist (1902), Chapter 1

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.”

“A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all—that is myself.”

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”

“One must learn to know oneself before knowing anything else.”

“Wouldst thou other men know, look thou within thine own heart.”

“I could give you no advice but this: to go into yourself and to explore the depths where your life wells forth.”

“The basic stimulus to the intelligence is doubt, a feeling that the meaning of an experience is not self-evident.”