Francois Fenelon Quotes

I am still simple, just as if I were beginning.

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.

The only thing I was trying to portray was serenity. Also, innocence, vulnerability and elegance.

The highest point of philosophy is to be both wise and simple; this is the angelic life.

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.

The ultimate truth is so simple; it is nothing more than being in one’s natural, original state.

There are times when life's just real quiet and simple. I sometimes get tired of people saying, "Well, what are you really like?"

The great end of prudence is to give cheerfulness to those hours which splendor cannot gild, and acclamation cannot exhilarate.

How desirable is this simplicity! Who will give it to me? I will quit all else; it is the pearl of great price.

Perfect sincerity and transparency make a great part of beauty, as in dewdrops, lakes, and diamonds.

Attending fully and becoming supple, Can you be as a newborn babe?

And all the loveliest things there be come simply, so it seems to me.

there is no need to justify what we are. there is no need to work hard to become what we are not. we just need to return to our intergrity, to the way we were before we learned to speak. perfect. as little children, we are authentic. only the present time is real for us; wo don't care about the past, and we aren't worried about the future. we enjoy life; we want to explore and have fun. nobody teaches us to be that way; we are born that way.

A simple maiden in her flower, Is worth a hundred coats of arms.

What is childlike humility? It’s not the lack of intelligence, but the lack of guile. The lack of an agenda.

Receive all with simplicity that happens to you

Jessica stopped beside him, said: 'What delicious abandon in the sleep of a child.' He spoke mechanically: 'If only adults could relax like that.' 'Yes.' 'Where do we lose it?' he murmured. 'We do, indeed, lose something,' she said.

Can you gather your vital breath and yet be tender like a newborn baby?

Happiness is gentleness, peace, concentration, simplicity, forgiveness, humor, fearlessness, trust, and now.

A cheery relaxation is man's natural state, just as nature itself is relaxed. A waterfall is concerned only with being itself, not with doing something it considers waterfall-like.

Other people are joyous, like on the feast of the ox, like on the way up to the terrace in the spring. I alone am inert, giving no sign, like a newborn baby who has not learned to smile.

Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.

The truth is the kindest thing we can give folks in the end.

[T]he kingdom of heaven is of the childlike, of those who are easy to please, who love and who give pleasure. Mighty men of their hands, the smiters and the builders and the judges, have lived long and done sternly and yet preserved this lovely character; and among our carpet interests and twopenny concerns, the shame were indelible if we should lose it. Gentleness and cheerfulness, these come before all morality; they are the perfect duties.

Glances of true beauty can be seen in the faces of those who live in true meekness.