Cyrano De Bergerac Quotes

A kiss is a secret which takes the lips for the ear.

A great nose may be an index Of a great soul

My heart always timidly hides itself behind my mind. I set out to bring down stars from the sky, then, for fear of ridicule, I stop and pick little flowers of eloquence.

All our souls are written in our eyes.

I-I am going to be a storm-a flame- I need to fight whole armies alone; I have ten hearts; I have a hundred arms; I feel too strong to war with mortals- BRING ME GIANTS!

And what is a kiss, specifically? A pledge properly sealed, a promise seasoned to taste, a vow stamped with the immediacy of a lip, a rosy circle drawn around the verb 'to love.' A kiss is a message too intimate for the ear, infinity captured in the bee's brief visit to a flower, secular communication with an aftertaste of heaven, the pulse rising from the heart to utter its name on a lover's lip: 'Forever.

I have a different idea of elegance. I don't dress like a fop, it's true, but my moral grooming is impeccable. I never appear in public with a soiled conscience, a tarnished honor, threadbare scruples, or an insult that I haven't washed away. I'm always immaculately clean, adorned with independence and frankness. I may not cut a stylish figure, but I hold my soul erect. I wear my deeds as ribbons, my wit is sharper then the finest mustache, and when I walk among men I make truths ring like spurs.

My soul, be satisfied with flowers, With fruit, with weeds even; but gather them In the one garden you may call your own.

How obvious it is now--the gift you gave him. All those letters, they were you... All those beautiful powerful words, they were you!.. The voice from the shadows, that was you... You always loved me!" Roxanne

Well when I write my book, and tell the tale of my adventures--all these little stars that shake out of my cloak-- I must save those to use for asterisks!

...But...to sing, to dream, to smile, to walk, to be alone, be free, with a voice that stirs and an eye that still can see! To cock your hat to one side, when you please at a yes, a no, to fight, or- make poetry! To work without a thought of fame or fortune, on that journey, that you dream of, to the moon! Never to write a line that's not your own...

Take it, and turn to facts my fantasies.

Stay awhile! 'Tis sweet,. . . The rare occasion, when our hearts can speak Our selves unseen, unseeing!

Speak to me...be eloquent, be brilliant for me. Improvise! Rhapsodize!... I ask for cream and you give me milk and water... Please gather your dreams together into words. - Roxanne, Cyrano de Bergerac

Your neck. I want to kiss it.

Cyrano: The leaves--- Roxane: What color---Perfect Venetian red! Look at them fall. Cyrano: Yes---they know how to die. A little way From the branch to the earth, a little fear Of mingling with the common dust---and yet They go down gracefully---a fall that seems Like flying!

A kiss, when all is told, what is it? An oath taken a little closer, a promise more exact. A wish that longs to be confirmed, a rosy circle drawn around the verb 'to love'. A kiss is a secret which takes the lips for the ear, a moment of infinity humming like a bee, a communion tasting of flowers, a way of breathing in a little of the heart and tasting a little of the soul with the edge of the lips!

Oui, je veux être aimé moi-même, ou pas du tout!

Proclaim your pride and bitterness loudly to the world, but to me speak softly, and tell me simply that she doesn't love you.

She is a mortal danger to all men. She is beautiful without knowing it, and possesses charms that she's not even aware of. She is like a trap set by nature - a sweet perfumed rose in whose petals Cupid lurks in ambush! Anyone who has seen her smile has known perfection. She instills grace in every common thing and divinity in every careless gesture. Venus in her shell was never so lovely, and Diana in the forest never so graceful as you.

I was wondering aimlessly; too many road were open...too many resolves, too complex, allowed of being taken. I took...by far the simplest of them all.

The insufferable arrogance of human beings to think that Nature was made solely for their benefit, as if it was conceivable that the sun had been set afire merely to ripen men's apples and head their cabbages.

My heart to yours sends but one cry: If kisses fast could flee By letter, then with your sweet lips My letters read should be!

All my laurels you have riven away, and my roses; yet in spite of you, there is one crown I bear away with me... One thing without stain, unspotted from the world, in spite of doom mine own! And that is... my white plume.

ROXANE: Live, for I love you! CYRANO: No, In fairy tales When to the ill-starred Prince the lady says 'I love you!' all his ugliness fades fast-- But I remain the same, up to the last! ROXANE: I have marred your life--I, I! CYRANO: You blessed my life! Never on me had rested woman's love. My mother even could not find me fair: I had no sister; and, when grown a man, I feared the mistress who would mock at me. But I have had your friendship--grace to you A woman's charm has passed across my path.

Perish the universe, provided I have my revenge!

Oh, don't take it so hard. I drove into this madness. Every woman needs a little madness in her life.

To sing, to laugh, to dream, to walk in my own way and be alone, free, with an eye to see things as they are, a voice that means manhood—to cock my hat where I choose— At a word, a Yes, a No, to fight—or write. To travel any road under the sun, under the stars, nor doubt if fame or fortune lie beyond the bourne— Never to make a line I have not heard in my own heart; yet, with all modesty to say: "My soul, be satisfied with flowers, with fruit, with weeds even; but gather them in the one garden you may call your own.

Well — when I write my book, and tell the tale Of my adventures — all these little stars That shake out of my cloak — I must save those To use for asterisks...

Roxane: His face is like yours, burning with spirit and imagination. He is proud and noble and young and fearless and beautiful- Cyrano:(losing all his colour.) Beautiful! Roxane: Yes. What's wrong? Cyrano: With me? Nothing. It's only... only... (Displaying his bandaged hand, with a little smile.) This fatal wound.

Eh bien ! Oui, c’est mon vice. Déplaire est mon plaisir. J’aime qu’on me haïsse.

It was only when God paired him up with his extroverted brother Aaron that Moses agreed to take on the assignment. Moses would be the speechwriter, the behind-the-scenes guy, the Cyrano de Bergerac; Aaron would be the public face of the operation. “It will be as if he were your mouth,” said God, “and as if you were God to him.

Un baiser, mais à tout prendre, qu'est-ce? Un serment fait d'un peu plus près, une promesse Plus précise, un aveu qui peut se confirmer, Un point rose qu'on met sur l'i du verbe aimer; C'est un secret qui prend la bouche pour oreille, Un instant d'infini qui fait un bruit d'abeille, Une communion ayant un goût de fleur, Une façon d'un peu se respirer le coeur, Et d'un peu se goûter au bord des lèvres, l'âme!

My nose is Gargantuan! You little Pig-snout, you tiny Monkey-Nostrils, you virtually invisible Pekinese-Puss, don't you realize that a nose like mine is both scepter and orb, a monument to me superiority? A great nose is the banner of a great man, a generous heart, a towering spirit, an expansive soul--such as I unmistakably am, and such as you dare not to dream of being, with your bilious weasel's eyes and no nose to keep them apart! With your face as lacking in all distinction--as lacking, I say, in interest, as lacking in pride, in imagination, in honesty, in lyricism--in a word, as lacking in nose as that other offensively bland expanse at the opposite end of your cringing spine--which I now remove from my sight by stringent application of my boot!

Watching other people making friends, everywhere, as a dog makes friends. I mark the manner of these canine courtesies and think, here comes, thank Heaven, another enemy!

I must be loved for myself, just that, or not at all…“ Christian to Cyrano

Impossible, Monsieur ; mon sang se coagule En pensant qu’on y peut changer une virgule.

  Que dites-vous ?… C’est inutile ?… Je le sais ! Mais on ne se bat pas dans l’espoir du succès ! Non ! non ! c’est bien plus beau lorsque c’est inutile !

(Cyrano, à Roxane, se faisant passer pour Christian sous le couvert de la nuit) : Moi je ne suis qu'une ombre et vous qu'une clarté!

Anyone who has seen her smile has known perfection. She instills grace in every common thing and divinity in every careless gesture.

You strip from me the laurel and the rose! Take all! Despite you there is yet one thing I hold against you all, and when, tonight, I enter Christ's fair courts, and, lowly bowed, Sweep with doffed casque the heavens' threshold blue, One thing is left, that, void of stain or smutch, I bear away despite you… My panache.

Always the answer—yes! Let me die so— Under some rosy-golden sunset, saying A good thing, for a good cause! By the sword, The point of honor—by the hand of one Worthy to be my foeman, let me fall— Steel in my heart, and laughter on my lips!

If kisses fast could flee By letter, then with your sweet lips My letters read should be

J'ai décidé d'être admirable, en tout, pour tout !

Qui connaît son sourire a connu le parfait.

To be loved for beauty is a poor reward; it is to love a mask, a temporary dress, a sham unworthy of the loving heart. Your beauty which at first but dazzled me, now that I see more clearly, disappears and is not seen at all.“ Roxanne to Christian

What would you have me do? Seek for the patronage of some great man, And like a creeping vine on a tall tree Crawl upward, where I cannot stand alone? No thank you! Dedicate, as others do, Poems to pawnbrokers? Be a buffoon In the vile hope of teasing out a smile On some cold face? No thank you! Eat a toad For breakfast every morning? Make my knees Callous, and cultivate a supple spine,- Wear out my belly grovelling in the dust? No thank you! Scratch the back of any swine That roots up gold for me? Tickle the horns Of Mammon with my left hand, while my right Too proud to know his partner's business, Takes in the fee? No thank you! Use the fire God gave me to burn incense all day long Under the nose of wood and stone? No thank you! Shall I go leaping into ladies' laps And licking fingers?-or-to change the form- Navigating with madrigals for oars, My sails full of the sighs of dowagers? No thank you! Publish verses at my own Expense? No thank you! Be the patron saint Of a small group of literary souls Who dine together every Tuesday? No I thank you! Shall I labor night and day To build a reputation on one song, And never write another? Shall I find True genius only among Geniuses, Palpitate over little paragraphs, And struggle to insinuate my name In the columns of the Mercury? No thank you! Calculate, scheme, be afraid, Love more to make a visit than a poem, Seek introductions, favors, influences?- No thank you! No, I thank you! And again I thank you!-But... To sing, to laugh, to dream To walk in my own way and be alone, Free, with a voice that means manhood-to cock my hat Where I choose-At a word, a Yes, a No, To fight-or write.To travel any road Under the sun, under the stars, nor doubt If fame or fortune lie beyond the bourne- Never to make a line I have not heard In my own heart; yet, with all modesty To say:"My soul, be satisfied with flowers, With fruit, with weeds even; but gather them In the one garden you may call your own." So, when I win some triumph, by some chance, Render no share to Caesar-in a word, I am too proud to be a parasite, And if my nature wants the germ that grows Towering to heaven like the mountain pine, Or like the oak, sheltering multitudes- I stand, not high it may be-but alone!

Noi abbiamo sempre in tasca lettere pronte per la divinità... Frutto della nostra fantasia, visto che apparteniamo a quella razza d'uomini che per amante si prendono un sogno soffiato nella bolla d'un nome!

A kiss! When all is said, what is a kiss? An oath of allegiance taken in closer proximity, a promise more precise, a seal on a confession, a rose-red dot upon the letter i in loving; a secret which elects the mouth for ear; an instant of eternity murmuring like a bee; balmy communion with a flavor of flowers; a fashion of inhaling each other's hearts, and of tasting, on the brink of the lips, each other's soul!

حسبك من الذكاء أن تعرف مقدار نفسك.

A pessimist is a man who tells the truth prematurely.

CYRANO Yes, it is there, you may be sure, I shall be sent for my Paradise. More than one soul of those I have loved must be apportioned there ... There I shall find Socrates and Galileo!

Il y a malgré vous quelque chose que j'emporte; et ce soir, quand j'entrerai chez Dieu, mon salut balaiera largement le seuil bleu, quelque chose que sans un pli, sans une tache, j'emporte malgré vous, et c'est... Mon panache.

While master of myself, I’ll not permit The soothing beauty of a tear to roll Along the crooked contours of this nose. There’s a sublimity in tears; and I Would not debase them; I would never turn Something sublime to the ridiculous.

Et que si les baisers s’envoyaient par écrit, Madame, vous liriez ma lettre avec les lèvres!

I am never away from you. Even now, I shall not leave you. In another world, I shall be still that one who loves you, loves you beyond measure.

Tu marcheras, j'irai dans l'ombre à ton côté : je serai ton esprit, tu seras ma beauté.

… Besides, the moment comes, and pity those for whom it never comes, when love resents clever ripostes and nimble repartee, instead of what is deeply felt and nobly told.“ Cyrano to Roxanne

Cyrano: I can see him there---he grins--- He is looking at my nose---that skeleton ---What's that you say? Hopeless?---Why, very well!--- But a man does not fight merely to win! No---no---better to know one fights in vain!... You there---Who are you? A hundred against one--- I know them now, my ancient enemies--- Falsehood!...There! There! Prejudice---Compromise---Cowardice--- What's that? No! Surrender? No! Never---never!... Ah, you too, Vanity! I knew you would overthrow me in the end--- No! I fight on! I fight on! I fight on! Yes, all my laurels you have riven away And all my roses; yet in spite of you, There is one crown I bear away with me, And to-night, when I enter before God, My salute shall sweep all the stars away From the blue threshold! One thing without stain, Unspotted from the world, in spite of doom Mine own!--- And that is... Roxane: ---That is... Cyrano: My white plume....

- LE VICOMTE : Maraud, faquin, butor de pied plat ridicule ! - CYRANO, ôtant son chapeau et saluant comme si le vicomte venait de se présenter : Ah ?... Et moi, Cyrano-Savinien-Hercule De Bergerac.

She is a mortal danger to all men. She is beautiful without knowing it, and possesses charms that she's not even aware of. She is like a trap set by nature - a sweet perfumed rose in whose petals Cupid lurks in ambush!

Cuanto más tomas de mi corazón, más corazón tengo.

Puesto que alguno necesito para sufrir, si guardas mi corazón, envíame el tuyo.

ما الحب في الدنيا إلا حظوظ وجدةد، وقد تأتيك عفوا ما تظن أنه أبعد الأشياء منالا منك.

Der Pessimist ist jemand, der vorzeitig die Wahrheit erzählt.

Christian gets to kiss Roxane, and Cyrano gets to pluck lots of rhetorical flowers while keeping his precious plume unblemished.

ROXANE. One hundred men against one: you!—So, good bye!—We are the best of friends, are we not? CYRANO. Assuredly, we are!

Tu comprends... ce billet, - c'était très émouvant: Je me suis fait pleurer moi-même en l'écrivant.

I carry my adornments on my soul. I do not dress up like a popinjay; But inwardly, I keep my daintiness. I do not bear with me, by any chance, An insult not yet washed away- a conscience Yellow with unpurged bile- an honor frayed To rags, a set of scruples badly worn. I go caparisoned in gems unseen, Trailing white plumes of freedom, garlanded With my good name- no figure of a man, But a soul clothed in shining armor, hung With deeds for decorations, twirling- thus- A bristling wit, and swinging at my side Courage, and on the stones of this old town Making the sharp truth ring, like golden spurs!

If our friend steals our ideas, it proves that he esteems us: He would not take them unless he thought they were good. We are wrong in being annoyed that, for want of children of his own, he adopts ours.

- CYRANO, regardant Christian : Si j'avais Pour exprimer mon âme un pareil interprète ! - CHRISTIAN, avec désespoir : Il me faudrait de l'éloquence ! - CYRANO, brusquement : Je t'en prête ! Toi, du charme physique et vainqueur, prête-m'en : Et faisons à nous deux un héros de roman !

Stale words, what are they worth? A moment comes and God help those for whom it never comes. When love of such nobility possesses this shaking frame That even the sweetest word, the ultimate honey, stings like vinegar.

The alley is a pitch for about twenty women leaning in doorways, chain-smoking. In their shiny open raincoats, short skirts, cheap boots, and high-heeled shoes they watch the street with hooded eyes, like spies in a B movie. Some are young and pretty, and some are older, and some of them are very old, with facial expressions ranging from sullen to wry. Most of the commerce is centred on the slightly older women, as if the majority of the clients prefer experience and worldliness. The younger, prettier girls seem to do the least business, apparent innocence being only a minority preference, much as it is for the aging crones in the alley who seem as if they’ve been standing there for a thousand years. In the dingy foyer of the hotel is an old poster from La Comédie Française, sadly peeling from the all behind the desk. Cyrano de Bergerac, it proclaims, a play by Edmond Rostand. I will stand for a few moments to take in its fading gaiety. It is a laughing portrait of a man with an enormous nose and a plumed hat. He is a tragic clown whose misfortune is his honour. He is a man entrusted with a secret; an eloquent and dazzling wit who, having successfully wooed a beautiful woman on behalf of a friend cannot reveal himself as the true author when his friend dies. He is a man who loves but is not loved, and the woman he loves but cannot reach is called Roxanne. That night I will go to my room and write a song about a girl. I will call her Roxanne. I will conjure her unpaid from the street below the hotel and cloak her in the romance and the sadness of Rostand’s play, and her creation will change my life.

Chi amo? Su, rifletti, forza. A me è proibito il sogno di un amore con questo naso al piede, che almen di un quarto d'ora ovunque mi precede. Allora per chi amo? Ma questo va da sé. Amo, ma è inevitabile, la più bella che c'è.

- CHRISTIAN : Je tuerais ton bonheur parce que je suis beau ? C'est trop injuste ! - CYRANO : Et moi, je mettrais au tombeau Le tien parce que, grâce au hasard qui fait naître, J'ai le don d'exprimer... ce que tu sens peut-être ?

You strip from me the laurel and the rose! Take all! Despite you there is yet one thing I hold against you all, and when, tonight, I enter Christ's fair courts, and, lowly bowed, Sweep with doffed casque the heavens' threshold blue, One thing is left, that, void of stain or smutch, I bear away despite you … My white plume.

A word of all the words I've got in there... But if I wrote... Let's get it written, then, This letter I've composed a hundred times, Written and rewritten in my mind: it's ready And all I have to do is lay my soul Open beside the paper and copy it out.

Voyez-vous, lorsqu'on a trop réussi sa vie, On sent, -- n'ayant rien fait mon Dieu de vraiment mal! -- Mille petits dégoûts de soi, dont le total Ne fait pas un remords, mais une gêne obscure ; Et les manteaux de duc traînent dans leur fourrure, Pendant que des grandeurs on monte les degrés, Un bruit d'illusions sèches et de regrets, Comme, quand vous montez lentement vers ces portes, Votre robe de deuil traîne des feuilles mortes.

She is a mortal danger to all men. She is beautiful without knowing it, and posses charms that she's not even aware of. She is like a trap set by nature - a sweet perfumed rose in whose petals Cupid lurks in ambush! Anyone who has seen her smile has known perfection. She instils grace in every common thing and divinity in every careless gesture. Venus in her shell was never so lovely, and Diana in the forest never so graceful as you.

The great error consists in supposing that poetry is an unnatural form of language. We should all like to speak poetry at the moment when we truly live, and if we do not speak it, it is because we have an impediment in our speech. It is not song that is the narrow or artificial thing, it is conversation that is a broken and stammering attempt at song. When we see men in a spiritual extravaganza, like Cyrano de Bergerac, speaking in rhyme, it is not our language disguised or distorted, but our language rounded and made whole.

I bear a haughty plume of independence. Everything shines about me: if I stand tall It’s not to flaunt my figure, but my soul. My only ornament’s my reputation; My wit’s as springy as my coiled moustache, [380] And when I walk, that ringing sound you hear Is not my spurs, it’s truth

to travel light, to be at liberty, to look straight, to talk loud and fearlessly,… to never to write a line that does not ring with the truth, which has its wellspring in the heart."Cyrano to le Bret -“ to be content to say “my garden is small my fruits and flowers are few but they are mine.

A felicidade sempre foi um negócio e uma obsessão. Os filósofos, desde que que existem, tentam mostrar-nos o caminho. Assim como os padres. E os monges. E os ditadores. E os samanas. E os gimnosofistas. E os cientistas. E os nossos pais. Toda a gente quer encontrar a felicidade e, não sendo eles próprios felizes, pretendem enfiar a beatitude que não conquistaram pela goela dos outros. Quer um copo de água para empurrar? Pegam em discursos, em actos, em ramos de flores, em educação, em dinheiro, em poemas e canções e servem-nos o caminho para a felicidade. Educam-nos com histórias que terminam com o singelo "foram felizes para sempre". E não me refiro só à Bíblia, mas também aos contos de fadas e de príncipes e princesas. E a obsessão é tão grande que até aos aleijados como eu lhes é servida a esperança: o fantasma da ópera, o corcunda de Notre-Dame, Cyrano de Bergerac, a Bela e o Monstro, Pinóquio, o sapo. Haja esperança para todos, incluindo batráquios que se tornam proeminentes membros da monarquia e se casam e, como quem se constipa, ficam com aquela doença do peito, o amor eterno. Nesse processo, há dor e alegria, mas não o estado de euforia permanente. As pessoas felizes não são as pessoas que vivem a abanar a cauda. As pessoas felizes choram e temem e caem e magoam-se e gritam e esfolam os joelhos, porque a sua felicidade independe da roda da fortuna, do acaso, das circunstâncias.

Cyrano’s attitude toward the sweetmeat vendor thus foreshadows his attitude toward the body in general (it is not a zone of pleasure) and the fair sex in particular. More comfortable with the gallant word (such as, “despite my Gascon pride”) or gesture (“He kisses her hand”) than with the idea of accepting her “dainties,” he settles for a mere “trifle,” for which silliness he is lambasted by his friend Le Bret. Under the guise of gallantry, Cyrano has found a way to formalize a circumspection with regard to women, a hesitancy and perhaps a fear that we see at work also in his relation to Roxane. His relation to sex is purely rhetorical. Cyrano himself attributes his unease with women to fear of being laughed at. By his own admission, the distance he imposes between himself and women is a form of self-defense: “My heart always cowers behind the defence of my wit. I

- LE VICOMTE, suffoqué : Ces grands airs arrogants ! Un hobereau qui... qui... n'a même pas de gants ! Et qui sort sans rubans, sans bouffettes, sans ganses ! - CYRANO : Moi, c'est moralement que j'ai mes élégances. Je ne m'attife pas ainsi qu'un freluquet, Mais je suis plus soigné si je suis moins coquet ; Je ne sortirais pas avec, par négligence, Un affront pas très bien lavé, la conscience Jaune encore de sommeil dans le coin de son oeil, Un honneur chiffonné, des scrupules en deuil. Mais je marche sans rien sur moi qui ne reluise, Empanaché d'indépendance, et de franchise ; Ce n'est pas une taille avantageuse, c'est Mon âme que je cambre ainsi qu'en un corset, Et tout couvert d'exploits qu'en rubans je m'attache, Retroussant mon esprit ainsi qu'une moustache, Je fais, en traversant les groupes et les ronds, Sonner les vérités comme des éperons." (Acte I, scène IV)

I know that in the end you'll overwhelm me, but I'll still fight you as long as there's a breath in my body... Yes, you've robbed me of everything: the laurels of glory, the roses of love! But there's one thing you can't take away from me. When I go to meet God this evening, and doff my hat before the lofty gates, my salute will sweep the blue threshold of heaven, because I'll still have one thing intact, without a stain, something that I'll take with me in spite of you: My white plume.

You marvel that this matter, shuffled pell-mell at the whim of Chance, could have made a man, seeing that so much was needed for the construction of his being. But you must realize that a hundred million time this matter, on the way to human shape, has been stopped to form now a stone, now lead, now coral, now a flower, now a comet; and all because of more or fewer elements that were or were not necessary for designing a man. Little wonder if, within an infinite quantity of matter that ceaselessly changes and stirs, the few animals, vegetables, and minerals we see should happen to be made; no more wonder than getting a royal pair in a hundred casts of the dice. Indeed it is equally impossible for all this stirring not to lead to something; and yet this something will always be wondered at by some blockhead who will never realize how small a change would have made it into something else.

De guiche. "Portez-les-lui." Cyrano, tenté et un peu charmé. "Vraiment…" De guiche. "Il est des plus experts. Il vous corrigera seulement quelques vers…" Cyrano, dont le visage s’est immédiatement rembruni. "Impossible, Monsieur ; mon sang se coagule En pensant qu’on y peut changer une virgule." De guiche. "Mais quand un vers lui plaît, en revanche, mon cher, Il le paye très cher." Cyrano. "Il le paye moins cher Que moi, lorsque j’ai fait un vers, et que je l’aime, Je me le paye, en me le chantant à moi-même !" De guiche. "Vous êtes fier." Cyrano. "Vraiment, vous l’avez remarqué ?

CYRANO à LE BRET : Regarde-moi, mon cher, et dis quelle espérance Pourrait bien me laisser cette protubérance ! Oh ! je ne me fais pas d'illusion ! - Parbleu, Oui, quelquefois, je m'attendris, dans le soir bleu ; J'entre en quelque jardin où l'heure se parfume ; Avec mon pauvre grand diable de nez je hume L'avril, - je suis des yeux, sous un rayon d'argent, Au bras d'un cavalier, quelque femme, en songeant Que pour marcher, à petits pas, dans de la lune, Aussi moi j'aimerais au bras en avoir une, Je m'exalte, j'oublie... et j'aperçois soudain L'ombre de mon profil sur le mur du jardin !

CYRANO:—of pride, of aspiration, Of feeling, poetry—of godlike spark Of all that appertains to my big nose, [He turns him by the shoulders, suiting the action to the word]: As. . .what my boot will shortly come and kick! THE BORE [running away]: Help! Call the Guard! CYRANO: Take notice, boobies all, Who find my visage's center ornament A thing to jest at—that it is my wont—An if the jester's noble—ere we part To let him taste my steel, and not my boot!

Vedete, quando si é avuto troppo successo nella vita, come me, sia pure senza avere fatto nulla di veramente cattivo, si finisce per sentire mille piccole nausee di sé, che nell'insieme non danno un rimorso ma un indefinibile oscuro fastidio. Così i mantelli ducali, strisciando lungo i gradini che portano al potere, trascinano nelle pieghe del loro bordo impellicciato cumuli di illusioni inaridite e rimpianti, come le foglie morte che la vostra veste di vedova smuove in questo chiostro.

Cyrano’s response is telling; consenting to eat only for fear that to refuse to do so might grieve the sweetmeat vendor, he takes a single grape, a glass of water, and half a macaroon. His abstemiousness with regard to the pleasures of the table extends symbolically to all pleasures of the flesh; a facet of his idealism, which leads him to prefer contemplation of the stars and the moon over more earthly and earthy delights, we will see as the play progresses that this tendency toward self-denial comes close to a philosophy of life—such that he manages to reach the end of the play and the end of his life without having conquered the object of his desire.

- LE VICOMTE, suffoqué : Ces grands airs arrogants ! Un hobereau qui... qui... n'a même pas de gants ! Et qui sort sans rubans, sans bouffettes, sans ganses ! - CYRANO : Moi, c'est moralement que j'ai mes élégances. Je ne m'attife pas ainsi qu'un freluquet, Mais je suis plus soigné si je suis moins coquet ; Je ne sortirais pas avec, par négligence, Un affront pas très bien lavé, la conscience Jaune encore de sommeil dans le coin de son oeil, Un honneur chiffonné, des scrupules en deuil. Mais je marche sans rien sur moi qui ne reluise, Empanaché d'indépendance et de franchise ; Ce n'est pas une taille avantageuse, c'est Mon âme que je cambre ainsi qu'en un corset, Et tout couvert d'exploits qu'en rubans je m'attache, Retroussant mon esprit ainsi qu'une moustache, Je fais, en traversant les groupes et les ronds, Sonner les vérités comme des éperons.

Et que faudrait-il faire ? Chercher un protecteur puissant, prendre un patron, Et comme un lierre obscur qui circonvient un tronc Et s'en fait un tuteur en lui léchant l'écorce, Grimper par ruse au lieu de s'élever par force ? Non, merci ! Dédier, comme tous ils le font, Des vers aux financiers ? se changer en bouffon Dans l'espoir vil de voir, aux lèvres d'un ministre, Naître un sourire, enfin, qui ne soit pas sinistre ? Non, merci ! Déjeuner, chaque jour, d'un crapaud ? Avoir un ventre usé par la marche ? une peau Qui plus vite, à l'endroit des genoux, devient sale ? Exécuter des tours de souplesse dorsale ?... Non, merci ! D'une main flatter la chèvre au cou Cependant que, de l'autre, on arrose le chou, Et donneur de séné par désir de rhubarbe, Avoir son encensoir, toujours, dans quelque barbe ? Non, merci ! Se pousser de giron en giron, Devenir un petit grand homme dans un rond, Et naviguer, avec des madrigaux pour rames, Et dans ses voiles des soupirs de vieilles dames ? Non, merci ! Chez le bon éditeur de Sercy Faire éditer ses vers en payant ? Non, merci ! S'aller faire nommer pape par les conciles Que dans des cabarets tiennent des imbéciles ? Non, merci ! Travailler à se construire un nom Sur un sonnet, au lieu d'en faire d'autres ? Non, Merci ! Ne découvrir du talent qu'aux mazettes ? Être terrorisé par de vagues gazettes, Et se dire sans cesse : "Oh ! pourvu que je sois Dans les petits papiers du Mercure François" ?... Non, merci ! Calculer, avoir peur, être blême, Préférer faire une visite qu'un poème, Rédiger des placets, se faire présenter ? Non, merci ! non, merci ! non, merci ! Mais... chanter, Rêver, rire, passer, être seul, être libre, Avoir l'œil qui regarde bien, la voix qui vibre, Mettre, quand il vous plaît, son feutre de travers, Pour un oui, pour un non, se battre, - ou faire un vers ! Travailler sans souci de gloire ou de fortune, À tel voyage, auquel on pense, dans la lune ! N'écrire jamais rien qui de soi ne sortît, Et modeste d'ailleurs, se dire : mon petit, Sois satisfait des fleurs, des fruits, même des feuilles, Si c'est dans ton jardin à toi que tu les cueilles ! Puis, s'il advient d'un peu triompher, par hasard, Ne pas être obligé d'en rien rendre à César, Vis-à-vis de soi-même en garder le mérite, Bref, dédaignant d'être le lierre parasite, Lors même qu'on n'est pas le chêne ou le tilleul, Ne pas monter bien haut, peut-être, mais tout seul !

Because I could not stop for death he kindly stopped for me I asked to see a photograph confirming his identity The faces matched - the eyes were warm - the hair was long and grey - both smiled but as I tried to move death blocked my way. No no, my sweetheart, what's the rush? Come on, let's go to bed, there's time for love, there's surely time for happiness - death said. His voice was soft, his skin was pale, his fingers brushed my face - Oh? time for love? I said - but where? He said: I know a place. He led me down a flowered track and on a bank of earth he loved me till my body screamed from every living nerve. I slept then for eternity drugged as I was with love: death bent down to my sleeping face and on earth's pillow made a place to leave his photograph.

Son los cadetes de la Gascuña que a Carbón tienen por capitán; son quimeristas, son embusteros; y a la vez nobles, firmes y enteros, blasón viviente por doquier van, son los cadetes de la Gascuña, que a Carbón tienen por capitán. Ojos de buitre, pies de cigüeña, dientes de lobo, fiero ademán; cuando arremeten a la canalla, no ciñen casco ni fina malla: rotos chambergos luciendo van… Ojos de buitre, pies de cigüeña, dientes de lobo, fiero ademán. Punza-barrigas y Rompe-hocicos son dulces motes que ellos se dan. Ebrios de gloria, sueñan conquistas, corren garitos, dan entrevistas; donde hayan riñas, allí estarán… Punza-barrigas y Rompe-hocicos son dulces motes que ellos se dan. Son los cadetes de la Gascuña que a Carbón tienen por capitán. Tras las coquetas corren ansiosos, hacen cornudos a los celosos; su gloria al viento los parches dan. ¡Son los cadetes de la Gascuña que a Carbón tienen por capitán!

Attendez!... Je choisis mes rimes... Là, j'y suis. (Il fait ce qu'il dit, à mesure.) Je jette avec grâce mon feutre, Je fais lentement l'abandon Du grand manteau qui me calfeutre, Et je tire mon espadon; Élégant comme Céladon, Agile comme Scaramouche, Je vous préviens, cher Mirmidon, Qu'à la fin de l'envoi, je touche! (Premier engagement de fer.) Vous auriez bien dû rester neutre; Où vais-je vous larder, dindon ?... Dans le flanc, sous votre maheutre ?... Au coeur, sous votre bleu cordon ?... - Les coquilles tintent, ding-don ! Ma pointe voltige: une mouche ! Décidément... c'est au bedon, Qu'à la fin de l'envoi, je touche. Il me manque une rime en eutre... Vous rompez, plus blanc qu'amidon ? C'est pour me fournir le mot pleutre ! - Tac! je pare la pointe dont Vous espériez me faire don: - J'ouvre la ligne, - je la bouche... Tiens bien ta broche, Laridon ! A la fin de l'envoi, je touche. (Il annonce solennellement:) Envoi Prince, demande à Dieu pardon ! Je quarte du pied, j'escarmouche, Je coupe, je feinte... (Se fendant.) Hé! Là donc! (Le vicomte chancelle, Cyrano salue.) A la fin de l'envoi, je touche.

[...] Eso es muy corto, joven; yo os abono que podíais variar bastante el tono. Por ejemplo: Agresivo: «Si en mi cara tuviese tal nariz, me la amputara.» Amistoso: «¿Se baña en vuestro vaso al beber, o un embudo usáis al caso?» Descriptivo: «¿Es un cabo? ¿Una escollera? Mas ¿qué digo? ¡Si es una cordillera!» Curioso: «¿De qué os sirve ese accesorio? ¿De alacena, de caja o de escritorio?» Burlón: «¿Tanto a los pájaros amáis, que en el rostro una alcándara les dais?» Brutal: «¿Podéis fumar sin que el vecino —¡Fuego en la chimenea!— grite?» Fino: «Para colgar las capas y sombreros esa percha muy útil ha de seros.» Solícito: «Compradle una sombrilla: el sol ardiente su color mancilla.» Previsor: «Tal nariz es un exceso: buscad a la cabeza contrapeso.» Dramático: «Evitad riñas y enojos: si os llegara a sangrar, diera un Mar Rojo.» Enfático: «¡Oh nariz!… ¡Qué vendaval te podría resfriar? Sólo el mistral.» Pedantesco: «Aristófanes no cita más que a un ser sólo que con vos compita en ostentar nariz de tanto vuelo: El Hipocampelephantocamelo.» Respetuoso: «Señor, bésoos la mano: digna es vuestra nariz de un soberano.» Ingenuo: «¿De qué hazaña o qué portento en memoria, se alzó este monumento?» Lisonjero: «Nariz como la vuestra es para un perfumista linda muestra.» Lírico: «¿Es una concha? ¿Sois tritón?» Rústico: «¿Eso es nariz o es un melón?» Militar: «Si a un castillo se acomete, aprontad la nariz: ¡terrible ariete!» Práctico: «¿La ponéis en lotería? ¡El premio gordo esa nariz sería!» Y finalmente, a Píramo imitando: «¡Malhadada nariz, que, perturbando del rostro de tu dueño la armonía, te sonroja tu propia villanía!» Algo por el estilo me dijerais si más letras e ingenio vos tuvierais; mas veo que de ingenio, por la traza, tenéis el que tendrá una calabaza y ocho letras tan sólo, a lo que infiero: las que forman el nombre: Majadero. Sobre que, si a la faz de este concurso me hubieseis dirigido tal discurso e, ingenioso, estas flores dedicado, ni una tan sólo hubierais terminado, pues con más gracia yo me las repito y que otro me las diga no permito.

Moses, for example, was not, according to some interpretations of his story, the brash, talkative type who would organize road trips and hold forth in a classroom at Harvard Business School. On the contrary, by today’s standards he was dreadfully timid. He spoke with a stutter and considered himself inarticulate. The book of Numbers describes him as “very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” When God first appeared to him in the form of a burning bush, Moses was employed as a shepherd by his father-in-law; he wasn’t even ambitious enough to own his own sheep. And when God revealed to Moses his role as liberator of the Jews, did Moses leap at the opportunity? Send someone else to do it, he said. “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?” he pleaded. “I have never been eloquent. I am slow of speech and tongue.” It was only when God paired him up with his extroverted brother Aaron that Moses agreed to take on the assignment. Moses would be the speechwriter, the behind-the-scenes guy, the Cyrano de Bergerac; Aaron would be the public face of the operation. “It will be as if he were your mouth,” said God, “and as if you were God to him.” Complemented by Aaron, Moses led the Jews from Egypt, provided for them in the desert for the next forty years, and brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai. And he did all this using strengths that are classically associated with introversion: climbing a mountain in search of wisdom and writing down carefully, on two stone tablets, everything he learned there. We tend to write Moses’ true personality out of the Exodus story. (Cecil B. DeMille’s classic, The Ten Commandments, portrays him as a swashbuckling figure who does all the talking, with no help from Aaron.) We don’t ask why God chose as his prophet a stutterer with a public speaking phobia. But we should. The book of Exodus is short on explication, but its stories suggest that introversion plays yin to the yang of extroversion; that the medium is not always the message; and that people followed Moses because his words were thoughtful, not because he spoke them well.

I què em caldria fer? Procurar-me un patró molt poderós, Le Bret, i, com una heura obscura que puja una paret, grimpar amb enganys, i a més, llepar-li les rajoles, veient que m'han clavat a la terra les soles? No, senyor!, que un banquer m'estimi per pallasso llepaculs que dedica sonets? No!, passo, passo! Afalagar, adular les passes d’un ministre per si m'adreça un gest que no sigui sinistre? No senyor! Empassar-me per esmorzar un gripau? Tenir el ventre gastat d'arrossegar-me al cau? I la pell dels genolls de nit i dia bruta? Ordenar a l'espinada que doblegui la ruta? No, senyor! Ser una estora als peus d’un idiota? Agitar l'encenser davant d'una carota? No, senyor! O saltar de faldilla en faldilla? O ser un gran homenet enmig d'una quadrilla? Potser passar la mar amb madrigals per rem i a la vela sospirs de vella? No fotem! No, senyor! Potser anar fins a can Seyrecet fer-me editar els versos, a quin preu? No, Le Bret! O fer-me elegir Papa en els pobres concilis formats per uns imbècils que van destil·lant bilis? No, senyor! Treballar perquè aplaudeixin altres un sonet que hagi fet, en lloc d'escriure’n d’altres? Trobar belles orelles de ruc, llargues i tristes? O viure amb l'objectiu de sortir a les revistes? Estar terroritzat com un que quasi es mor quan va veure el seu nom escrit al Mercure d'or? Calcular, esporuguit davant d'un anatema? Anar a fer una visita en comptes d’un poema? Relligar els aprovats o fer-me presentar? No, senyor! No, senyor!... Més m’estimo cantar, entrar, sortir, ballar, ser sol, sentir-me viure, mirar amb el cap ben alt, parlar fort, i ser lliure; anar amb el barret tort, contemplar l'univers, per un sí o per un no, barallar-me... o fer un vers! No tenir gens en compte la fama i la fortuna, poder, amb el pensament, enfilar-me a la lluna! No haver d'escriure un mot si de mi no ha sortit, i molt modestament poder-me dir: Petit, estigues satisfet de flors i fruits i fulles si és al teu jardí que en culls o bé n’esbulles! I si arriba el triomf, quan l'atzar ho ha dispost, no haver d'estar obligat a satisfer un impost, davant de mi mateix reconèixer-me els mèrits, no haver de pagar mai per uns favors pretèrits, i, encara que no sigui poderós el meu vol, que no arribi gens lluny, saber que hi he anat sol! Acte segon. Escena VIII.