Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869): French author, poet and statesman. The library holds 39 quotes by Alphonse de Lamartine. The 39 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
If cruelty has its expiations and its remorses, generosity has its chances and its turns of good fortune; as if Providence reserved them for fitting occasions, that noble hearts may not be discouraged.
Religions are not proved, are not established, are not overthrown, by logic. They are, of all the mysteries of nature and the human mind, the most mysterious and inexplicable; they are of instinct, and not of reason.
Nature has given women two painful but heavenly gifts, which distinguish them, and often raise them above human nature,—compassion and enthusiasm. By compassion, they devote themselves; by enthusiasm they exalt themselves.
In the habits of legal men every accusation appears insufficient if they do not exaggerate it even to calumny. It is thus that justice itself loses its sanctity and its respect amongst men.
Two qualities are demanded of a statesman who would direct any great movement of opinion in which he himself takes a part; he must have a complete understanding of the movement itself, and he must be animated by the same motives as those which inspire the movement.