and playwright
. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I
and World War II
. His work is noted for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy. Giraudoux's dominant theme is the relationship between man and woman—or in some cases, between man and some unattainable ideal.
Giraudoux was born in Bellac
, Haute-Vienne
where his father, Léger Giraudoux, worked for the Ministry of Transport.
To win a woman in the first place one must please her, then undress her, and then somehow get her clothes back on her. Finally, so she will allow you to leave her, you've got to annoy her.
The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made.
In wartime a man is called a hero. It doesn't make him any braver, and he runs for his life. But at least it's a hero who is running away.
Everyone always dies for his country. If you have lived in it, well and wisely and actively, you die for it too.
As soon as war is declared it will be impossible to hold the poets back. Rhyme is still the most effective drum.
Born enemies don't fight. Nations you would say were designed to go to war against each other — by their skins, their language, their smell: always jealous of each other, always hating each other — they're not the ones who fight. You will find the real antagonists in nations fate has groomed and made ready for the same war.
There is no better way of exercising the imagination than the study of law. No poet ever interpreted nature as freely as a lawyer interprets the truth.