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François-René de Chateaubriand

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François-René de Chateaubriand

Born: September 4, 1768

Died: July 4, 1848

Nationality: French

Occupation: Politician, diplomat, writer, historian

Biography: François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“Achilles exists only through Homer. Take away the art of writing from this world, and you will probably take away its glory.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

Source/Notes: Les Natchez (1826)

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“Perfect works are rare, because they must be produced at the happy moment when taste and genius unite; and this rare conjuncture, like that of certain planets, appears to occur only after the revolution of several cycles, and only lasts for an instant.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

Source/Notes: As quoted in Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893) selected and compiled by James Wood

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“Every institution goes through three stages — utility, privilege, and abuse.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

Source/Notes: As quoted in Culture and Progress (1930) by Wilson Dallam Wallis

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“Memory is often the attribute of stupidity; it generally belongs to heavy spirits whom it makes even heavier by the baggage it loads them down with.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

Source/Notes: Book II: Ch. 1:The School at Dol – Mathematics and Languages – The nature of my memory - Mémoires d'outre-tombe (1848 – 1850)

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“It is a long way from Combourg to Berlin, from a youthful dreamer to an old minister. I find among the words preceding these: 'In how many places have I already continued writing these Memoirs, and in what place will I finish them?”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

Source/Notes: In Berlin, (March 1821); Book IV, Chapter 1: Berlin – Potsdam – Frederick - Mémoires d'outre-tombe (1848 – 1850)

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“My downfall made a great noise: those who appeared most satisfied criticized the manner of it.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

Source/Notes: Book XXVIII, Ch. 2: The Opposition follows me - Mémoires d'outre-tombe (1848 – 1850)

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“You are not superior just because you see the world in an odious light.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“One does not learn how to die by killing others.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

Source/Notes: Memoirs (1826-1841)

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“The original writer is not he who refrains from imitating others, but he who can be imitated by none.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

Source/Notes: Le Génie de Christianisme pt. 2, (1802), Book 1, Chapter 3

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“Achilles exists only by the grace of Flomer. Take away the art of writing from this world and you will probably take away its glory.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“Aristocracy has three successive ages. First superiority s, then privileges and finally vanities. Having passed from the first, it degenerates in the second and dies in the third.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“Let us not disdain glory too much; nothing is finer, except virtue. The height of happiness would be to unite both in this life.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

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François-René de Chateaubriand

“Without taste genius is only a sublime kind of folly. That sure touch which the lyre gives back the right note and nothing more, is even a rarer gift than the creative faculty itself.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand

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