Life never presents us with anything which may not be looked upon as a fresh starting point, no less than as a termination.
Andre GideRead
It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Authenticity is more valuable than seeking approval through pretense.
This quote emphasizes the importance of being true to oneself, suggesting that it is preferable to be disliked for one's genuine qualities rather than being liked for a facade. It highlights the idea that authenticity leads to true self-acceptance, while pretending to be someone else can lead to a hollow existence and false relationships.
Themes
AuthenticitySelf-AcceptanceIdentityTruthSelf-Love
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about self-expression and individuality.
More from Andre Gide
All quotes βDo not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings.
Andre GideRead
Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.
Andre GideRead
Through fear of resembling one another, through horror of having to submit, through uncertainty as well, through skepticism and complexity, there is a multitude of individual little beliefs for the triumph of strange little individuals.
Andre GideRead
It is the special quality of love not to be able to remain stationary, to be obliged to increase under pain of diminishing.
Andre GideRead
It is with noble sentiments that bad literature gets written.
Andre GideRead
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If our life is poured out in useless words, we will never hear anything, never become anything, and in the end, because we have said everything before we had anything to say, we shall be left speechless at the moment of our greatest decision.
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