Quotes by Alfred de Vigny

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Let us dream that there were sometimes stronger and greater men, who were more decidedly good or bad; this encourages us...

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What we want from works which set human ghosts in motion is... the philosophical spectacle of man deeply animated by the passions of his character and his time...

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It is therefore about the TRUTH of this MAN and of this TIME, but both raised to a superior and ideal power that would concentrate all forces...

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A great talent portrays life rather than what is alive...

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Art is never to be appreciated except in its relation to ideal beauty...

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Ambition... this feeling can be ennobled by its purpose.

"It is not true that a war against a foreign nation can be sacred. It is not true that the earth wants blood. The earth wants pure water from the sky for its rivers, pure dew from its clouds, but not blood. War is cursed by God, as are those who participate in it."