Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Georges Bernanos (French Novelist, Polemicist)

Georges Bernanos (1888–1948,) fully Louis Émile Clément Georges Bernanos, was a French author and a soldier in World War I. His polemical masterpiece, The Diary of a Country Priest, established him as one of the most original and independent Roman Catholic writers of his time.

Born in Paris with Spanish roots, Bernanos grew up in a devout Catholic family. A staunch royalist, he served as the editor of the royalist weekly publication L’Avant-garde from 1913 until he enlisted in World War I. Known for his fervent and unwavering stance, he authored political pamphlets that targeted various subjects. His work La Grande Peur des bien-pensants (1931) criticized the French middle classes, while Les Grands Cimetières sous la lune (1938; A Diary of My Times, 1938) condemned Franco’s initiation of the Spanish civil war.

Bernanos became a novelist with Sous le Soleil de Satan (1926; Star of Satan, 1940,) portraying a priest’s struggle against Satan. La Joie (1929; Joy, 1948) and his most renowned novel, Journal d’un curé de campagne (1936; The Diary of a Country Priest, 1937,) further explored this theme of the battle between good and evil. The protagonist of the latter work is a young and inexperienced priest who faces persistent frustration in his attempts to bring his Christian beliefs to an unresponsive parish.

In 1938, deeply disturbed by political developments in Europe and appalled by the Munich agreement with Hitler, Bernanos resettled in Brazil with his wife and six children. He continued to express his views through pamphlets such as Scandale de la vérité (1939) and Lettre aux Anglais (1942; Plea for Liberty, 1944) and radio broadcasts to his fellow compatriots during World War II. While in Brazil, he completed and published the novel Monsieur Ouine (1943; The Open Mind, 1945,) which received a mixed response upon publication in Paris in 1946.

After World War II, Bernanos returned to France. Just before his death, he completed the film script Dialogues des Carmélites, which is set during the French Revolution and based on the martyrdom of a group of nuns.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Georges Bernanos

The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Corruption

A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Procrastination, Thinking, Thought, Inaction, Action, Getting Going, Thoughts

Who are you to condemn another’s sin?. He who condemns sin becomes part of it, espouses it.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Sin

No one ever discovers the depths of his own loneliness.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Loneliness

It’s a fine thing to rise above pride, but you must have pride in order to do so.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Pride

Civilization exists precisely so that there may be no masses but rather men alert enough never to constitute masses.
—Georges Bernanos

Purity is not imposed upon us as though it were a kind of punishment, it is one of those mysterious but obvious conditions of that supernatural knowledge of ourselves in the Divine, which we speak of as faith. Impurity does not destroy this knowledge, it slays our need for it.
—Georges Bernanos

Faith is not a thing which one “loses,” we merely cease to shape our lives by it.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Faith

A thought that does not result in action is nothing much, and an action that does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Action

Our rages, daughters of despair, creep and squirm like worms. Prayer is the only form of revolt which remains upright.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Prayer

Fear, true fear, is a savage frenzy. Of all the insanities of which we are capable, it is surely the most cruel.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Fear

A poor man with nothing in his belly needs hope, illusion, more than bread.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: The Poor, Poverty, Illusion

The wish to pray is a prayer in itself. God can ask no more than that of us.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Prayer

I know the compassion of others is a relief at first. I don’t despise it. But it can’t quench pain, it slips through your soul as through a sieve. And when our suffering has been dragged from one pity to another, as from one mouth to another, we can no longer respect or love it.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Kindness, Compassion

It is the perpetual dread of fear, the fear of fear, that shapes the face of a brave man.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Courage, Bravery

When you think of the huge uninterrupted success of a book like Don Quixote, you’re bound to realize that if humankind have not yet finished being revenged, by sheer laughter, for being let down in their greatest hope, it is because that hope was cherished so long and lay so deep!
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Belief

The modern state no longer has anything but rights; it does not recognize duties any more.
—Georges Bernanos

Hope is a risk that must be run.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Hope

Fact is Our Lord knew all about the power of money: He gave capitalism a tiny niche in His scheme of things, He gave it a chance, He even provided a first installment of funds. Can you beat that? It’s so magnificent. God despises nothing. After all, if the deal had come off, Judas would probably have endowed sanatoriums, hospitals, public libraries or laboratories.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Capitalism

God ordains that beggars should beg for greatness, as for all else, when greatness shines out of them, and they don’t know it.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Charity

What a cunning mixture of sentiment, pity, tenderness, irony surrounds adolescence, what knowing watchfulness! Young birds on their first flight are hardly so hovered around.
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Youth

What does the truth matter? Haven’t we mothers all given our sons a taste for lies, lies which from the cradle upwards lull them, reassure them, send them to sleep: lies as soft and warm as a breast!
—Georges Bernanos
Topics: Deception/Lying, Lying, Lies

Wondering Whom to Read Next?

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *