Marguerite Yourcenar's most beautiful lines
The top 3 according to 0 votes from people: There is no unhappy love: we only possess what we do not possess. There is no happy love: what we possess, we no longer possess. · We say: mad with joy. We should say: wise with pain. · Love is a punishment. We are punished for not having been able to stay alone.. (Updated Sep 23, 2026.)
From Fires to Memoirs of Hadrian and The Abyss: Marguerite Yourcenar's most quoted lines on love, solitude and writing, with the book they come from.
Automatically translated (original in Français). See the original
Top 11
-
1
There is no unhappy love: we only possess what we do not possess. There is no happy love: what we possess, we no longer possess.
Fires (1936).
-
2
We say: mad with joy. We should say: wise with pain.
Fires (1936).
-
3
Love is a punishment. We are punished for not having been able to stay alone.
Fires (1936).
-
4
Nothing to fear. I have hit bottom. I cannot fall lower than your heart.
Fires (1936).
-
5
How dull it would have been to be happy!
Fires (1936).
-
6
We come to every event of our life as beginners.
Fires (1936).
-
7
One is never entirely alone: unfortunately, one is always with oneself.
Alexis (1929).
-
8
The written letter taught me to listen to the human voice, just as the great still poses of statues taught me to appreciate gestures.
Memoirs of Hadrian (1951), 'Animula vagula blandula'.
-
9
One of the best ways to recreate a man's thought: reconstruct his library.
Notebooks on Memoirs of Hadrian.
-
10
Whatever one does, one always rebuilds the monument in one's own way. But it is already a lot to use only authentic stones.
Notebooks on Memoirs of Hadrian.
-
11
Who would be foolish enough to die without at least having walked round his prison?
The Abyss (1968), Zeno.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first!