Marguerite de Navarre

Marguerite de Navarre (French: Marguerite d'Angoulême, Marguerite d'Alençon; 11 April 1492 – 21 December 1549), also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was the princess of France, Queen of Navarre, and Duchess of Alençon and Berry. She was married to Henry II of Navarre. Her brother became King of France, as Francis I, and the two siblings were responsible for the celebrated intellectual and cultural court and salons of their day in France. As an author and a patron of humanists and reformers, she was an outstanding figure of the French Renaissance.

Quotes

L'Heptaméron (1558)

I have heard much of these languishing lovers, but I never yet saw one of them die for love.
- First Day, Novel VIII (trans. W. K. Kelly)

To me it seems much better to love a woman as a woman, than to make her one's idol, as many do. For my part, I am convinced that it is better to use than to abuse.
- Second Day, Novel XII (trans. W. K. Kelly)

No one ever perfectly loved God who did not perfectly love some of his creatures in this world.
- Second Day, Novel XIX (trans. W. K. Kelly)
- Variant translation by Samuel Putnam in Marguerite of Navarre (1935), p. 53:
  - Never shall a man attain to the perfect love of God who has not loved to perfection some creature in this world.

Un malheureux cherche l'autre.
- As two unhappy people often will, the one sought out the other.
- Third Day, Novel XXI (trans. P. A. Chilton)
- Variant translation: Misery loves company.

He who knows his own incapacity, knows something, after all.
- Third Day, Novel XXVIII (trans. W. K. Kelly)

Man is wise ... when he recognises no greater enemy than himself.
- Third Day, Novel XXX

God always helps madmen, lovers, and drunkards.
- Fourth Day, Novel XXXVIII (trans. W. K. Kelly)

Mariage est un état de si longue durée, qu'il ne doit être commencé légèrement, ne sans l'opinion de nos meilleurs amis et parents.
- Marriage is an estate of long duration, and one which should not be entered into lightly or without the approval of our closest friends and relatives.
- Fourth Day, Novel XL (trans. P. A. Chilton)

When one has one good day in the year, one is not wholly unfortunate.
- Fourth Day, Novel XL

Blessed, unquestionably, is he who has it in his power to do evil, yet does it not.
- Fifth Day, Novel XLII (trans. W. K. Kelly)

Though jealousy be produced by love as ashes are by fire, yet jealousy extinguishes love, as ashes smother the flame.
- Fifth Day, Novel XLVIII (trans. W. K. Kelly)

I never knew a mocker who was not mocked, ... a deceiver who was not deceived, or a proud man who was not humbled.
- Sixth Day, Novel LI (trans. W. K. Kelly)

Ilz font semblant de n'aymer poinct les raisins quand ilz sont si haults, qu'ilz ne les peuvent cueillir.
- They cry sour grapes when the object of their desires is beyond their grasp.
- Sixth Day, Novel LIII (trans. P. A. Chilton)

Some there are who are much more ashamed of confessing a sin than of committing it.
- Sixth Day, Novel LX (trans. W. K. Kelly)

Attributed

A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness (1902)

J. de Finod, A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness (1902)

The less one sees and knows men, the higher one esteems them; for experience teaches their real value.
- p. 16

There are few husbands whom the wife can not win in the long run by patience and love, unless they are harder than the rocks which the soft water penetrates in time.
- p. 17

The more hidden the venom, the more dangerous it is.
- p. 30

We are always more disposed to laugh at nonsense than at genuine wit; because the nonsense is more agreeable to us, being more comformable to our own natures: fools love folly, and wise men wisdom.
- p. 34

There is no greater fool than he who thinks himself wise; no one wiser than he who suspects he is a fool.
- p. 42

There is in us more of the appearance of sense and of virtue than of the reality.
- p. 45

The virtuous action, done for virtue's sake alone, is truly laudable.
- p. 53

When one has a good day in the year, one is not wholly unfortunate.
- p. 61

Men are so accustomed to lie, that one can not take too many precautions before trusting them — if they are to be trusted at all.
- p. 66

Love works miracles every day: such as weakening the strong, and strengthening the weak; making fools of the wise, and wise men of fools; favoring the passions, destroying reason, and, in a word, turning everything topsy-turvy.
- p. 76

He who knows his incapacity, knows something.
- p. 76

The woman who does not choose to love should cut the matter short at once, by holding out no hopes to her suitor.
- p. 79

Extreme concupiscence may be found under an extreme austerity.
- p. 85

Hypocrites are wicked: they hide their defects with so much care, that their hearts are poisoned by them.
- p. 90

We shall all be perfectly virtuous when there is no longer any flesh on our bones.
- p. 102

I confess I should be glad if my pleasures were as pleasing to God as they are to me: in that case, I should often find matter for rejoicing.
- p. 120

It is difficult to repent of what gives us pleasure.
- p. 123

No one perfectly loves God who does not perfectly love some of his creatures.
- p. 125

In love, as in war, a fortress that parleys is half taken.
- p. 133

Pleasures are sins: we regret to offend God; but, then, pleasures please us.
- p. 156

The true and the false speak the same language.
- p. 164

A woman of honor should never suspect another of things she would not do herself.
- p. 170

Since love teaches how to trick the tricksters, how much reason have we to fear it — we who are poor simple creatures!
- p. 179

Many weep for the sin, while they laugh over the pleasure.
- p. 187

There are women so hard to please that it seems as if nothing less than an angel will suit them: hence it comes that they often meet with devils.
- p. 228

God has put into the heart of man love and the boldness to sue, and into the heart of woman fear and the courage to refuse.
- p. 237

Love is a disease that kills nobody, but one whose time has come.
- p. 238

Forty Thousand Quotations (1917)

Charles Noel Douglas, Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical (1917)

A woman of honor should not suspect another of things she would not do herself.

Bashfulness is not becoming to maidenhood, though modesty always is.

Blushes cannot be counterfeited.

Delicacy is the genuine tint of virtue.

Excitement is the drunkenness of the spirits. Only calm waters reflect heaven in their bosom.

God has put into the heart of man love and the boldness to sue, and into the heart of woman fear and the courage to refuse.

Gold adulterated one thing only—the human heart.

Have a care lest the wrinkles in the face extend to the heart.

I should rejoice if my pleasures were as pleasing to God as they are to myself.

In love as in war, a fortress that parleys is half taken.

It is only the educated who can produce or appreciate high art.

It is the same in love as in war; a fortress that parleys is half taken.

Servitude is inherent; we are all slaves to duty or to force.

Tears may be dried up, but the heart never.

Temptations, like misfortunes, are sent to test our moral strength.

The cup of joy is heaviest when empty.

There are few husbands whom the wife cannot win in the long run, by patience and love.

There are women so hard to please that it would seem as if nothing less than an angel would suit them; and hence it comes that they often encounter devils.

There is in us more of the appearance of sense and virtue than of the reality.

Women suffer more from disappointment than men, because they have more of faith and are naturally more credulous.

Quotes about Marguerite

The principal themes of the [Heptaméron] are rape, seductions bordering on rape, incest and numerous infringements of the sex and marriage codes of aristocratic Europe.
- Paul A. Chilton, Introduction to The Heptameron (New York: Penguin, 1984)

The first modern woman.
- Samuel Putnam, Marguerite of Navarre (New York: Coward McCann, Inc., 1935)

External links

Encyclopedic article on Marguerite de Navarre on Wikipedia
Media related to Margaret of Valois-Angoulême on Wikimedia Commons
Works related to Author:Marguerite de Navarre on Wikisource
The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre at UPenn Digital Library