# Quote — Marguerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian

> Every bliss achieved is a masterpiece: the slightest error turns it awry, and it alters with one touch of doubt; any heaviness detracts from its charm, the least stupidity renders it dull.

- Author: [Marguerite Yourcenar](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marguerite-yourcenar.md)
- Book: [Memoirs of Hadrian](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marguerite-yourcenar/memoirs-of-hadrian.md)
- Page: 164
- Original (fr): Tout bonheur est un chef-d'oeuvre: la moindre erreur le fausse, la moindre hésitation l'altère, la moindre lourdeur le dépare, la moindre sottise l'abêtit.
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marguerite_Yourcenar#Memoirs_of_Hadrian_(1951)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/marguerite-yourcenar/memoirs-of-hadrian/every-bliss-achieved

## More from this book

> There is more than one kind of wisdom, and all are essential in the world; it is not bad that they should alternate.

p. 270 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marguerite-yourcenar/memoirs-of-hadrian/there-is-more.md)

> Any law too often subject to infraction is bad; it is the duty of the legislator to repeal or change it.

p. 113 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marguerite-yourcenar/memoirs-of-hadrian/any-law-too.md)

> Our civil laws will never be supple enough to fit the immense and changing variety of facts. Laws change more slowly than custom, and though dangerous when they fall behind the times are more dangerous still when they presume to anticipate custom.

p. 113 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marguerite-yourcenar/memoirs-of-hadrian/our-civil-laws.md)