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Quote by Stendhal

Work

La Chartreuse De Parme, Vol. 3 of 3

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Author

Stendhal
Stendhal

Stendhal, born Marie-Henri Beyle, was a prominent 19th-century French novelist and literary critic. Known for his profound psychological portrayals and unique narrative style, his works include masterpieces such as 'The Red and the Black' and 'The Charterhouse of Parma'. Stendhal was born on January 23, 1783, and died on March 23, 1842. more

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“A stroke. Robert has never been kind to his body . . . It is only the carrier of that wonderful mind, after all. A case for the crown. And Robert has cared for that mind like a tiger with her young: he has given up drinking and drugs, kept a strict schedule of sleep. He is good, he is careful. And to steal that--to steal his mind--burglar Life!Like cutting a Rembrandt from its frame.”

“At this point I realised what it meant to be a man in India. It meant knowing what one could do and knowing what one could only get done. It meant being able to hold onto two patterns simultaneously. One was methodical, hierarchical, regulated and the outcome depended on fate, chance, kings and desperate men. The other was intuitive, illicit and guaranteed. The trick was to know when to shift between the patterns, to peel the file off a table and give it to a peon, to speak easily of one's cousin the minister or archbishop. I did not think I would ever know what these shifts entailed, and that meant, in essence, that I was never going to grow up.”