Story of My Life Quotes

“[On Chopin's Preludes:]

"His genius was filled with the mysterious sounds of nature, but transformed into sublime equivalents in musical thought, and not through slavish imitation of the actual external sounds. His composition of that night was surely filled with raindrops, resounding clearly on the tiles of the Charterhouse, but it had been transformed in his imagination and in his song into tears falling upon his heart from the sky. ... The gift of Chopin is [the expression of] the deepest and fullest feelings and emotions that have ever existed. He made a single instrument speak a language of infinity. He could often sum up, in ten lines that a child could play, poems of a boundless exaltation, dramas of unequalled power.”
― George Sand, Story of My Life: The Autobiography of George Sand

“Honestly, I do not believe in a drunk Byron writing beautiful verses. Inspiration can pass through the soul just as easily in the midst of an orgy as in the silence of the woods, but when it is a question of giving form to your thoughts, whether you are secluded in your study or performing on the planks of a stage, you must be in total possession of yourself.”
― George Sand, Story of My Life: The Autobiography of George Sand

“Nunca me ha ocurrido; no sé llorar. En cuanto las lágrimas acuden a mis ojos, los sollozos anudan mi garganta, me ahogo, mi respiración se mezcla con gritos y gemidos; y, como aborrezco dar espectáculos de dolor, he pensado en quedarme muerta; y así he de morir probablemente algún día, si alguna desgracia me sorprende estando sola.”
― George Sand, Historia de mi vida

“Corambé debía tener, por lo tanto, todos los atributos de la belleza física y moral: el don de la elocuencia, el encanto poderoso de las artes y, sobre todo, la magia de la improvisación musical.”
― George Sand, Historia de mi vida

“Nada está bien, nada está mal para él; ahoga el débil grito de su conciencia, se burla de las creencias del género humano. Es casi más fuerte en su perversidad que Carlos en su extravío. Asesina a su padre, aplasta y tortura a sus vasallos, roba la herencia paterna, no retrocede ante ninguna traición, ante ninguna crueldad; cuando la muerte se acerca es asaltado por visiones supersticiosas y por cobardes temores; mas no por eso se convierte. Escapa de sus enemigos por el suicidio. Es la sociedad pervertida y maldita que se precipita al abismo y muere entre sus propias manos.

(Sobre Los Bandidos, de Schiller; favorita de Dostoyevski y otros autores rusos)”
― George Sand, Historia de mi vida

“My good aunt Lucie was on the eve of marriage with an officer who was a friend of my father, and they were all celebrating in the intimacy of the family. My mother was wearing a pretty dress the color of roses. They were dancing a quadrille composed by my father, as he played on his faithful Cremona violin. . . . My mother, feeling a slight malaise, left the dance and went to her bedroom. Since she showed no signs of indisposition and had left so quietly, the dancing continued. My aunt Lucie, as it was ending, went to my mother's bedroom, and almost immediately she was heard to cry, "Come, come quickly, Maurice, you have a daughter!"

"She shall be called Aurore," said my father, "after my poor, dear mother, who is not here to bless her, but who will someday!"
And he took me in his arms. . . .
"She was born to the sound of music and in the color of
roses," said my aunt. "She will know happiness.”
― George Sand, Story of My Life: The Autobiography of George Sand