“ When one is twenty the idea of the world and the figure to be cut in it dominate everything. ”
Stendhal, The Red and the Black (1830). copy citation
| Author | Stendhal |
|---|---|
| Source | The Red and the Black |
| Topic | ideas world |
| Date | 1830 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Horace B. Samuel |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Red_and_the_Black |
Context
“Lost in a sweetly vague reverie, quite alien to his character, and softly pressing that hand, which he thought ideally pretty, he half listened to the rustle of the leaves of the pine trees, swept by the light night breeze, and to the dogs of the mill on the Doubs, who barked in the distance.
But this emotion was one of pleasure and not passion. As he entered his room, he only thought of one happiness, that of taking up again his favourite book. When one is twenty the idea of the world and the figure to be cut in it dominate everything.
He soon, however, laid down the book. As the result of thinking of the victories of Napoleon, he had seen a new element in his own victory. " Yes," he said to himself, " I have won a battle. I must exploit it.”
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