Pierre Corneille Quotes

Happiness seems made to be shared.

I would tell you I love you, Sir, if I knew what it was to love.

To myself alone do I owe my fame.

To take revenge halfheartedly is to court disaster; either condemn or crown your hatred.

They who overcome their desires once can overcome them always.

It is only blood that can wash away such an outrage; die or kill.

Master of the universe but not of myself, I am the only rebel against my absolute power.

He who has resolved to conquer or die is seldom conquered; such noble despair perishes with difficulty.

To win without risk is to triumph without glory.

He who allows himself to be insulted deserves to be.

How much must I overcome before I triumph?

Clemency is the noblest trait which can reveal a true monarch to the world.

Heaven absolves all crimes committed to gain a throne Once Heaven gives it to us.

Those who resolve to conquer or die, are rarely conquered.

I don't know how to defend myself: surprised innocence cannot imagine being under suspicion.

Ambition becomes displeasing when it is once satiated; there is a reaction; and as our spirit, till our last sigh, is always aiming toward some object, it falls back on itself, having nothing else on which to rest; and having reached the summit, it longs to descend.

It is the crime not the scaffold which is the disgrace.

Danger breeds best on too much confidence.

Deceit is the game of petty spirits, and that is by nature a woman's quality.

I love you much less than my God, but much more than myself.

Peace is produced by war.

Kindness acts Not always as you think; a hated hand Renders it odious.

Let us attend to the present, and as to the future we shall know how to manage when the occasion arrives.

It is hard to hate what one has loved, and a half-extinguished fire is soon relit.

Violence is just, where kindness is vain.

Ambition aspires to descend

I believe everything to be just when a king ordains it.

When obedience is so impious, revolt is a necessity.

The king, just and prudent, wants only those things which he can get.

Be it only for a day, it is still a glory without equal to be master of the world just that day.

The fire which seems extinguished often slumbers beneath the ashes.

Ah, though a Roman, I am not less a man.

It matters more how one gives than what one gives

He who is hated by all can not expect to live long.

The greater the risk, the sweeter the fruit.

Among wellborn spirits courage does not depend on age.

Guess if you can, choose if you dare.

What destroys one man preserves another.

Self-love is the source of all our other loves.

I am Roman, alas, because Horace is Roman.

He who plays advisor is no longer ambassador.

I can be forced to live without happiness, but I will never consent to live without honor.

As great as kings may be, they are what we are: they can err like other men.

Each instant of life is a step toward death.

One ought to have a good memory when he has told a lie

All evils are equal when they are extreme.

Desire increases when fulfillment is postponed.

Love lives on hope, and dies when hope is dead; It is a flame which sinks for lack of fuel.