Through loyalty to the past, our mind refuses to realize that tomorrow's joy is possible only if today's makes way for it; that each wave owes the beauty of its line only to the withdrawal of the preceding one.
Andre Gide

To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company.
Andre Gide

To what a degree the same past can leave different marks - and especially admit of different interpretations.
Andre Gide

Welcome anything that comes to you, but do not long for anything else.
Andre Gide

What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; what another would have written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself-and thus make yourself indispensable.
Andre Gide

What would there be in a story of happiness? Only what prepares it, only what destroys it can be told.
Andre Gide

Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change.
Andre Gide