Cyrano de Bergerac – the Original Ghostwriter

Cyrano de Bergerac was the original ghostwriter, wooing his love through the face of another many centuries ago. It is in this famous play, authored by Edmond Rostand, where we get to meet one of the most marvelous characters in all literature. Cyrano is filled with strength, wit and passion and though he is a mountain of a man in both mind and heart, his exceptionally large nose prevents him from declaring his affection for Roxane, his one true love. Instead, Cyrano finds himself ghosting his feelings for another, far more handsome man.

Here are a few of the more memorable quotes from that remarkable play:

“My nose is Gargantuan! You little Pig-snout, you tiny Monkey-Nostrils, you virtually invisible Pekinese-Puss, don’t you realize that a nose like mine is both scepter and orb, a monument to me superiority? A great nose is the banner of a great man, a generous heart, a towering spirit, an expansive soul–such as I unmistakably am, and such as you dare not to dream of being, with your bilious weasel’s eyes and no nose to keep them apart! With your face as lacking in all distinction–as lacking, I say, in interest, as lacking in pride, in imagination, in honesty, in lyricism–in a word, as lacking in nose as that other offensively bland expanse at the opposite end of your cringing spine–which I now remove from my sight by stringent application of my boot!”

“My wit is more polished than your mustache. The truth which I speak strikes more sparks from men’s hearts than your spurs do from the cobblestones.”

“I know. I outnumber them, but I shall go gently with them at first.”

“Does it seem strange: a hundred cutthroats against one poor poet? It is not strange. It is a minimal defense, mademoiselle, when that poet is a friend of Cyrano de Bergerac.”

“I shall mortalize the lot of you!”

“I would die at the stake rather than change a semi-colon!”

“It is addressed to the bravest, the brainiest, the blondest, the most beautiful woman on earth! How could she think it was meant for anyone but her?”

“Yes, it is perfect. Your white gown swathed in the blue-black mantle of night. I am only a voice, and you are a point of light. I may have spoken Beautifully to you in the past…”

“Through the whirlwind which your eyes stir up inside me. But now, in this blessed darkness, I feel I am speaking to you for the first time.”

“And what is a kiss, specifically? A pledge properly sealed, a promise seasoned to taste, a vow stamped with the immediacy of a lip, a rosy circle drawn around the verb ‘to love.’ A kiss is a message too intimate for the ear, infinity captured in the bee’s brief visit to a flower, secular communication with an aftertaste of heaven, the pulse rising from the heart to utter its name on a lover’s lip: ‘Forever.’”

“God’s whiskers! Your face is hideous as the demon’s in my storybook!”

“There. There is our soul. The same reed, the same fingers which have piped us into combat, call us softly home, in our thoughts. This is no longer the shrill call to attack, it is every shepherd who ever inhabited our land, whispering his sheep to fold. Listen. It is your hillside, your earth, your forest–your younger brother, suntanned under his red woolen cap. It is the green solitude of nights you spent beside the Sordogne. Listen my countrymen. It is our country calling.”

“How obvious it is now – the gift you gave him. All those letters, they were you… All those beautiful powerful words, they were you!.. The voice from the shadows, that was you… You always loved me!”

“Well, my greatest victories were won under an assumed name.”

Cyrano gives all us ghostwriters a great name.

Special thanks to Bamboo Forest who gave me the idea for this post.