1.
A burlesque word is often a powerful sermon.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
2.
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
3.
Whatever we conceive well we express clearly, and words flow with ease.
[Fr., Ce que l'on concoit bien s'enonce clairement,
Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisement.]
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
4.
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
5.
A fool always finds one still more foolish to admire him.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
6.
However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
7.
Hasten slowly, and without losing heart, put your work twenty times upon the anvil.
[Fr., Hatez-vous lentement; et, sans perdre courage,
Vingt fois sur le metier remettez votre ouvrage.]
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
8.
Who is content with nothing possesses all things.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
9.
Whate'er is well conceived is clearly said, And the words to say it flow with ease.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
10.
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
11.
The wisest man is generally he who thinks himself the least so.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
12.
All men are fools, and with every effort they differ only in the degree.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
13.
Often the fear on one evil leads us into a worse.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
14.
Whatever we well understand we express clearly, and words flow with ease.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
15.
Honor is like an island, rugged and without shores; we can never re-enter it once we are on the outside.
[Fr., L'honneur est comme une ile escarpee et sans bords;
On n'y peut plus rentrer des qu'on en est dehors.]
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
16.
It is the sin which we have not committed which seems the most monstrous.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
17.
Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
18.
Gold gives an appearance of beauty even to ugliness: But with poverty everything becomes frightful.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
19.
At times truth may not seem probable.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
20.
When we envy another, we make their virtue our vice.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
21.
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
22.
Attach yourself to those who advise you rather than praise you.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
23.
Nothing is really beautiful but truth, and truth alone is lovely.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
24.
Honor is like an island, rugged and without a beach; once we have left it, we can never return.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
25.
A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
26.
Of every four words I write, I strike out three.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
27.
Bring your work back to the workshop twenty times. Polish it continuously, and polish it again.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
28.
Some excel in rhyme who reason foolishly.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
29.
What is conceived well is expressed clearly.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
30.
Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
31.
Something of calumny always sticks.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
32.
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
33.
A warmed-up dinner was never worth much.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
34.
With poverty everything becomes frightful.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
35.
A fop sometimes gives important advice.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
36.
Truth has not such an urgent air.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
37.
The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
38.
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
39.
The dreadful burden of having nothing to do.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
40.
Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
41.
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
42.
If your descent is from heroic sires, Show in your life a remnant of their fires.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
43.
That which is repeated too often becomes insipid and tedious.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
44.
Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
45.
Praising an honest person who doesn't deserve it, always wounds them.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
46.
Who lives content with little possesses everything.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
47.
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
48.
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
49.
Sometimes a fool makes a good suggestion.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
50.
Ignorance is always ready to admire itself. Procure yourself critical friends.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux