Jules Renard

French novelist Jules Renard published his journal in 1925. In an introduction to his own journal, A Writer's Notebook, Somerset Maugham says of Renard's, "The journal is wonderfully good reading. It is extremely amusing. It is witty and subtle and often wise... Jules Renard jotted down neat retorts and clever phrases, epigrams, things seen, the sayings of people and the look of them, descriptions of scenery, effects of sunshine and shadow, everything, in short, that could be of use to him when he sat down to write for publication."

• Writing is the only way to talk without being interrupted.
• Writing is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none.
• Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
• Failure is not the only punishment for laziness; there is also the success of others.
• We spend our lives talking about this mystery. Our life.
• We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it.
• Fame is a constant effort.
• There are good and bad times, but our mood changes more often than our fortune.
• Look for the ridiculous in everything, and you will find it.
• Don't tell a woman she's pretty; tell her there's no other woman like her, and all roads will open to you.
• The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse.
• If money does not make you happy; give it back.