"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not."
"If the flower were not attached to its stem, it would flee at the approach of man, like the insect or the bird; for the attribute of man on the earth, at least as long as he does not better understand his role, is to worry and frighten what he is not interested in taming for utilitarian purposes. Man is skillful in mistreating everything he can use"
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Source: Andre Gide (2017). “Pretexts: Reflections on Literature and Morality”, p.276, Routledge
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