Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux Quotes

A burlesque word is often a powerful sermon.

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.

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.]

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.

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

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

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.]

Who is content with nothing possesses all things.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.]

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

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.

At times truth may not seem probable.

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

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.

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

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

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

A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.

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

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

Some excel in rhyme who reason foolishly.

What is conceived well is expressed clearly.

Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul.

Something of calumny always sticks.

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.

A warmed-up dinner was never worth much.

With poverty everything becomes frightful.

A fop sometimes gives important advice.

Truth has not such an urgent air.

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

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.

The dreadful burden of having nothing to do.

Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.

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.

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

That which is repeated too often becomes insipid and tedious.

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

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

Who lives content with little possesses everything.

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.

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.

Sometimes a fool makes a good suggestion.

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