Natalie Clifford Barney Quotes

When you're in love you never really know whether your elation comes from the qualities of the one you love, or if it attributes them to her; whether the light which surrounds her like a halo comes from you, from her, or from the meeting of your sparks.

My queerness is not a vice, is not deliberate, and harms no one.

Most virtue is a demand for greater seduction.

It's necessary to use suffering. Otherwise, one is used by it.

Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed.

‏ﺇﻧﻪ ﻳﺤﺒﻬﺎ ﺃﻛﺜﺮ ﻣﻦ ﻛﻞ ﺍﻷﺧﺮﻳﺎﺕ، ﻭ ﻟﻜﻨﻪ ﻳﺤﺘﺎﺝ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻷﺧﺮﻳاﺕ ﻟﻜﻲ ﻳﻔﻄﻦ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺫﻟﻚ

When she lowers her eyes she seems to hold all the beauty in the world between her eyelids; when she raises them I see only myself in her gaze.

At first, when an idea, a poem, or the desire to write takes hold of you, work is a pleasure, a delight, and your enthusiasm knows no bounds. But later on you work with difficulty, doggedly, desperately. For once you have committed yourself to a particular work, inspiration changes its form and becomes an obsession, like a love-affair… which haunts you night and day! Once at grips with a work, we must master it completely before we can recover our idleness.

Youth is not a question of years: one is young or old from birth.

Paris has always seemed ... the only city where you can live and express yourself as you please.

The advantage of love at first sight is that it delays a second sight.

Je me regarde sans honte : on n’a jamais blâmé les albinos d’avoir les yeux roses et les cheveux blanchâtres, pourquoi m’en voudrait-on d’être lesbienne? C’est une affaire de nature : mon étrangeté n’est pas un vice, n’est pas “voulue” et ne nuit à personne.

If we keep an open mind, too much is likely to fall into it

... anything difficult to say must be shouted from the rooftops.

I have sometimes lost friends, but friends have never lost me.

Most virtue is a demand for greater seduction.”  -Natalie Clifford Barney