Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux Quotes

The greatest fools are oft the most satisfied.

Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me.

Gold gives an appearance of beauty even to ugliness: but with poverty everything becomes frightful.

It is the sin which we have not committed which seems the most monstrous.

He who cannot limit himself will never know how to write.

Often the fear on one evil leads us into a worse.

If your descent is from heroic sires, Show in your life a remnant of their fires.

Something of calumny always sticks.

However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.

Honor is like an island, rugged and without a beach; once we have left it, we can never return.

Truth has not such an urgent air.

The dreadful burden of having nothing to do.

The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.

Nothing but truth is lovely, nothing fair.

A fool can always find a greater fool who admires him.

The wisest man is generally he who thinks himself the least so.

Bring your work back to the workshop twenty times. Polish it continuously, and polish it again.

Of every four words I write, I strike out three.

Let a single complete action, in one place and one day, keep the theatre packed to the last.

Praising an honest person who doesn't deserve it, always wounds them.

When we envy another, we make their virtue our vice.

That which is repeated too often becomes insipid and tedious.

Whate'er is well conceived is clearly said, And the words to say it flow with ease.

Some excel in rhyme who reason foolishly.

Gold lends a touch of beauty even to the ugly.

All men are fools, and with every effort they differ only in the degree.

The world is full of fools; and he who would not wish to see one, must not only shut himself up alone, but must also break his looking-glass.

Who is content with nothing possesses all things.

To support those of your rights authorized by Heaven, destroy everything rather than yield; that is the spirit of the Church.

Happy who in his verse can gently steer From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.

Whatever we well understand we express clearly, and words flow with ease.

Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.

What is conceived well is expressed clearly.

Ignorance is always ready to admire itself. Procure yourself critical friends.

Nothing is really beautiful but truth, and truth alone is lovely.

Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul.

Everything that poverty touches becomes frightful.

Sometimes a fool makes a good suggestion.

Attach yourself to those who advise you rather than praise you.

No one who cannot limit himself has ever been able to write.

A burlesque word is often a powerful sermon.

Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.

He [Moliere] pleases all the world, but can- not please himself.

A fool always finds one still more foolish to admire him.
[Fr., Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire.]

A fop sometimes gives important advice.

A warmed-up dinner was never worth much.

Who lives content with little possesses everything.