Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none.

—Jules Renard

talent writing literature

About Jules Renard

Portrait of Jules Renard

Pierre-Jules Renard (pronounced [pjɛʁ ʒyl ʁənaʁ]; 22 February 1864 – 22 May 1910) was a French novelist, playwright, and diarist. He was a member of the Académie Goncourt and is acclaimed for Poil de carotte (Carrot Top, 1894), a bitterly ironical account of his own childhood. His other famous works...

More quotations from Jules Renard

The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse.

—Jules Renard

It is not how old you are, but how you are old.

—Jules Renard

Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.

—Jules Renard

Failure is not the only punishment for laziness; there is also the success of others.

—Jules Renard

Be modest! It is the kind of pride least likely to offend.

—Jules Renard

More quotations tagged with “literature”

A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.

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The liveliness of literature lies in its exceptionality, in being the individual, idiosyncratic vision of one human being, in which, to our delight and great surprise, we may find our own vision reflected.

—Salman Rushdie

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Frederick William was deeply disappointed by his son, the future Frederick the Great, who in his youth seemed more interested in French culture, music, and literature than in the military virtues. The father's disaffection turned to actual hatred, and his treatment became so harsh that the young prince decided to run away, with the aid of two accomplices, Lieutenants Katte and Keith. The plan was discovered; Keith escaped, but the prince and Katte were captured and court-martialed. Katte was sentenced to life imprisonment, Frederick to solitary confinement. Frederick William, deciding that Katte's sentence was too lenient, had him beheaded in the presence of Prince Frederick. This drastic measure had the desired effect; Frederick asked the king's pardon and began to apply himself to acquiring the Prussian military philosophy.

—The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes

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History

8 Sep 2013 Added