Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux Quotes

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

Nothing but truth is lovely, nothing fair.

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

A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.

With poverty everything becomes frightful.

The greatest fools are oft the most satisfied.

A proud bigot, who is vain enough to think that he can deceive even God by affected zeal, and throwing the veil of holiness over vices, damns all mankind by the word of his power.

Of all the animals which fly in the air, walk on the land, or swim in the sea, from Paris to Peru, from Japan to Rome, the most foolish animal in my opinion is man.

Of all the creatures that creep, swim, or fly, Peopling the earth, the waters, and the sky, From Rome to Iceland, Paris to Japan, I really think the greatest fool is man.

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

Now two punctilious envoys, Thine and Mine, Embroil the earth about a fancied line; And, dwelling much on right and much on wrong, Prove how the right is chiefly with the strong.

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.

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

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

Gold lends a touch of beauty even to the ugly.

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

Nature always springs to the surface and manages to show what she is. It is vain to stop or try to drive her back. She breaks through every obstacle, pushes forward, and at last makes for herself a way.

Sometimes a fool makes a good suggestion.

A fool always finds one still more foolish to admire him.

Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.

It is in vain a daring author thinks of attaining to the heights of Parnassus if he does not feel the secret influence of heaven and if his natal star has not formed him to be a poet.

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

He [Moliere] pleases all the world, but cannot please himself.

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

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

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

But satire, ever moral, ever new, Delights the reader and instructs him, too. She, if good sense refine her sterling page, Oft shakes some rooted folly of the age.

Who lives content with little possesses everything.

In spite of every sage whom Greece can show, Unerring wisdom never dwelt below; Folly in all of every age we see, The only difference lies in the degree.

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

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

Who is content with nothing possesses all things.

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

The dreadful burden of having nothing to do.

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

Though you be sprung in direct line from Hercules, if you show a lowborn meanness, that long succession of ancestors whom you disgrace are so many witnesses against you; and this grand display of their tarnished glory but serves to make your ignominy more evident.

Everything that poverty touches becomes frightful.