Gary
The Chameleon
With maternal love, life makes you a promise at dawn that it never keeps. Romain knew it. He wrote anyway.
29
Quotes
24
Themes
0
Era
Life and journey
His mother had promised him the world. Romain spent his life trying to deserve it. War pilot, resistance fighter, diplomat.
Their thought
Maternal love as a promise. Gary believed in dignity. Giving. Protecting. Writing.
What they leave us
He remains the writer of impossible love and stubborn humanity. His books smell of life.
Major works
Promise at Dawn (1960).
The Life Before Us (1975).
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29 quotes
“Avec l'amour maternel, la vie vous fait à l'aube une promesse qu'elle ne tient jamais.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“With maternal love, life makes you a promise at dawn it never keeps.”
— La Promesse de l'aube
“Je n'ai jamais imaginé qu'on pût être à la fois un héros et un lâche.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“I never imagined that one could be both a hero and a coward.”
— La Promesse de l'aube
“Il faut aimer.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“One must love.”
— La Vie devant soi
“Les yeux, c'est fait pour pleurer. Si on ne pleure pas, on voit rien.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“Eyes are made for crying. If we do not cry, we see nothing.”
— La Vie devant soi
“J'ai peur d'avoir peur.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“I'm afraid of being afraid.”
— La Vie devant soi
“La vie, ça ne se refuse pas.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“Life, it cannot be refused.”
— La Vie devant soi
“On ne peut pas vivre sans personne.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“One cannot live without anyone.”
— La Vie devant soi
“C'est beau, l'innocence... C'est ce qu'il y a de plus humain.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“Innocence is beautiful... It's the most human thing.”
— Les Racines du ciel
“Les éléphants, c'est la liberté. C'est la dernière liberté.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“Elephants are freedom. It's the last freedom.”
— Les Racines du ciel
“Je t'aime. Je n'ai pas le temps d'en dire plus.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“I love you. I don't have time to say more.”
— Clair de femme
“Le bonheur est un moment de distraction universelle.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“Happiness is a moment of universal distraction.”
— Gros-Câlin
“Il n'y a pas de vieillesse, il n'y a que de la tristesse.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“There is no old age, there is only sadness.”
— Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable
“Je me suis bien amusé. Au revoir et merci.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“I had a lot of fun. Goodbye and thank you.”
— Lettre d'adieu
“La vérité, c'est qu'il n'y a pas de vérité.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“The truth is that there is no truth.”
— Pseudo
“L'humour est une déclaration de dignité, une affirmation de la supériorité de l'homme sur ce qui lui arrive.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“Humor is a declaration of dignity, an affirmation of man's superiority over what happens to him.”
— La Promesse de l'aube
“Je suis un homme qui ne possède rien, pas même sa propre mort.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“I am a man who owns nothing, not even his own death.”
— Les Cerfs-volants
“Aimer, c'est l'innocence éternelle.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“To love is eternal innocence.”
— Chien blanc
“On ne guérit jamais de son enfance.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“One never heals from his childhood.”
— La Promesse de l'aube
“La réalité n'est pas une inspiration pour la littérature. Au mieux, la littérature est une inspiration pour la réalité.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“Reality is not an inspiration for literature. At best, literature is an inspiration for reality.”
— Inconnu
“Je vois l'Histoire comme une course de relais où l'un de nous, avant de tomber sur la piste, doit porter un peu plus loin le défi d'être un homme.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“I see History as a relay race where one of us, before falling on the track, must carry the challenge of being a man a little further.”
— Inconnu
“Les hommes meurent parfois bien plus tôt qu'on ne les enterre.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“Men sometimes die much earlier than they are buried.”
— Inconnu
“La meilleure façon de se défendre contre le pouvoir de l'argent, c'est d'en avoir.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“The best way to defend against the power of money is to have it.”
— Inconnu
“Le problème avec l'hystérie, c'est qu'elle est contagieuse.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“The problem with hysteria is that it is contagious.”
— Inconnu
“S'il y a quelque chose qui ouvre des horizons, c'est précisément l'ignorance.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“If there is something that opens horizons, it is precisely ignorance.”
— Inconnu
“Tant que tu vis, tu espères. Tu penses que tout va juste... s'améliorer.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“As long as you live, you hope. You think everything will just... get better.”
— Inconnu
“Quand une guerre est gagnée, ce sont les perdants, et non les gagnants, qui sont libérés.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“When a war is won, it is the losers, not the winners, who are freed.”
— Inconnu
“Le subconscient d'un écrivain est l'un des endroits les plus sales qui soient : en fait, on y trouve le monde entier.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“A writer's subconscious is one of the dirtiest places there is: in fact, it holds the whole world.”
— Inconnu
“Il faut aimer. C'est la seule chose qui compte.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“One must love. That's the only thing that matters.”
— La Vie devant soi
“L'humour est une déclaration de dignité.”
Original quote in French
Suggested translation
“Humor is a declaration of dignity.”
— La Promesse de l'aube
