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Denis de Rougemont Quotes

Writer

Denis de Rougemont was a Swiss writer renowned for his studies on love and marriage. His works profoundly explored the relationship between human emotions and social structures.

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All Passion Marriage Existence Fallen Flight Love Is People Problem Social Absent

Famous Denis de Rougemont Quotes

“[...] passion is by no means the fuller life which it seems to be in the dreams of adolescence, but is on the contrary a kind of naked and denuding intensity, verily, a bitter destitution, the impoverishment of a mind being emptied of all diversity, an obsession of the imagination by a single image.”

Love Mind Passion Obsession

Book:Love in the Western World

Source: Love in the Western World

“A life allied with mine, for the rest of our lives... that is the miracle of marriage.”

Marriage Our Lives Mines Miracle

Book:Love in the Western World

Source: Love in the Western World

“Having fallen from the eternal, the Evil One's desires are endless, insatiable. Having fallen from pure Being, he is driven by the desire to possess, to fill his emptiness. But the problem is insoluble, always. He is compelled to have and to hold, to possess and consume, and nothing else. All he takes, he destroys.”

Problem Desire Evil Pure Eternal Investing Driven Endless Fallen Emptiness Compelled Insatiable

Author:Denis de Rougemont

“One possessed a thousand and three women (in Spain alone), the other only one. But it is multiplicity that is impoverished, whilethe entire world is concentrated in a single being infinitely possessed. Tristan no longer needs the world--because he loves! While Don Juan, always loved, cannot love in return. Hence his anguish and his frenzied course.”

World Needs Three Courses Return Thousand Possessed Anguish Spain Multiplicity Don Juan Juan

Book:Love Declared: Essays on the Myths of Love

Source: Love Declared: Essays on the Myths of Love

“Fallen myths can instill venom.”

Myth Fallen Instill Venom

Author:Denis de Rougemont

“Social confusion has now reached a point at which the pursuit of immorality turns out to be more exhausting than compliance with the old moral codes.”

Turns Social Sex Moral Pursuit Confusion Code Exhausting Immorality Compliance Moral Code

Book:Love in the Western World

Source: Love in the Western World

“Passion and marriage are essentially irreconcilable. Their origins and their ends make them mutually exclusive. Their co-existence in our midst constantly raises insoluble problems, and the strife thereby engendered constitutes a persistent danger for every one of our social safeguards.”

Ends Problem Passion Social Existence Marriage Danger Raises Midst Strife Persistent Exclusive

Author:Denis de Rougemont

“Both in the lower and the middle classes the wiseacres urge young men 'to think it over' before taking the decisive step. Thus they foster the delusion that the choice of a wife or husband may be governed by a certain number of accurately weighable pros and cons. This is a crude delusion on the part of common sense.”

Thinking Men May Young Certain Choices Common Numbers Marriage Steps Class Wife Middle Husband Common Sense Young Man Middle Class Delusion Urges Crude Pros And Cons

Author:Denis de Rougemont

“Romance only comes into existence where love is fatal, frowned upon and doomed by life itself.”

Romance Love Is Existence Doomed

Book:Love in the Western World

Source: Love in the Western World

“What stirs lyrical poets to their finest flights is neither the delight of the senses nor the fruitful contentment of the settled couple; not the satisfaction of love, but its passion. And passion means suffering.”

Mean Suffering Passion Poet Couple Satisfaction Delight Senses Flight Contentment Finest Lyrical

Book:Love in the Western World

Source: Love in the Western World

“To love in the sense of passion-love is the contrary of to live. It is an impoverishment of one's being, an askesis without sequel, an inability to enjoy the present without imagining it as absent, a never-ending flight from possession.”

Passion Enjoy Love Is Possession Contrary Flight Inability Absent Never Ending Sequels Love Passion

Book:Love in the Western World

Source: Love in the Western World

“Why should neurotic, selfish, immature people suddenly become angels when they fall in love ... ?”

People Should Fall Angel Falling In Love Selfish Neurotic Immature Immature People

Author:Denis de Rougemont

“Animals do feel like us, also joy, love, fear and pain but they cannot grasp the spoken word. It is our obligation to take their part and continue to resist the people who profit by them, who slaughter them and who torture them.”

People Feels Pain Joy Animal Profit Obligation Torture Slaughter Spoken Word Fear Of Love

Author:Denis de Rougemont

“Happiness is indeed a Eurydice, vanishing as soon as gazed upon. It can exist only in acceptance, and succumbs as soon as it is laid claim to.”

Happiness Acceptance Claims Vanishing

Book:Love in the Western World

Source: Love in the Western World

About the Author

Born: September 8, 1906
Died: December 6, 1985
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 14

Books & Sources

Love in the Western WorldRelated source material

Love Declared: Essays on the Myths of LoveRelated source material

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