# Quote — Marguerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian

> The written word has taught me to listen to the human voice, much as the great unchanging statues have taught me to appreciate bodily motions.

- 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: 21
- Original (fr): La lettre écrite m'a enseigné à écouter la voix humaine, tout comme les grandes attitudes immobiles des statues m'ont appris à apprécier les gestes.
- 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/the-written-word

## 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)