Top quotes by Moliere

All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing. Votes: 29

Some of the most famous books are the least worth reading. Their fame was due to their having done something that needed to be doing in their day. The work is done and the virtue of the book has expired. Votes: 12

Love is often the fruit of marriage. Votes: 11

No matter what Aristotle and the Philosophers say, nothing is equal to tobacco; it's the passion of the well-bred, and he who lives without tobacco lives a life not worth living. Votes: 11

Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money. Votes: 10

A lover tries to stand in well with the pet dog of the house. Votes: 10

I feed on good soup, not beautiful language. Votes: 10

Reason is not what decides love. Votes: 9

It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do. Votes: 9

I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue. Votes: 9

There's nothing quite like tobacco: it's the passion of decent folk, and whoever lives without tobacco doesn't deserve to live. Votes: 8

I have the fault of being a little more sincere than is proper. Votes: 8

I live on good soup, not on fine words. Votes: 8

As the purpose of comedy is to correct the vices of men, I see no reason why anyone should be exempt. Votes: 7

It is the public scandal that offends; to sin in secret is no sin at all. Votes: 7

Ah! how annoying that the law doesn't allow a woman to change husbands just as one does shirts. Votes: 7

People don't mind being mean; but they never want to be ridiculous. Votes: 7

Two wives? That exceeds the custom. Votes: 6

Long is the road from conception to completion. Votes: 6

Of all follies there is none greater than wanting to make the world a better place. Votes: 5

Books and marriage go ill together. Votes: 5

I want to be distinguished from the rest; to tell the truth, a friend to all mankind is not a friend for me. Votes: 5

He who follows his lessons tastes a profound peace, and looks upon everybody as a bunch of manure. Votes: 5

We always speak well when we manage to be understood. Votes: 3

We die only once, and for such a long time. Votes: 2

When we are understood, we always speak well, and then all your fine diction serves no purpose. Votes: 0

[Dom Juan] believes neither in Heaven, nor the saints, nor God, nor the Werewolf. Votes: 0

How easy love makes fools of us. Votes: 0

I assure you, an educated fool is more foolish than an uneducated one. Votes: 0

It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh. Votes: 0

The envious will die, but envy never. Votes: 0

My fair one, let us swear an eternal friendship. Votes: 0

Frenchmen have an unlimited capacity for gallantry and indulge it on every occasion. Votes: 0

The secret to fencing consists in two things: to give and to not receive. Votes: 0

The maturing process of becoming a writer is akin to that of a harlot. First you do it for love, then for a few friends, and finally only for money. Votes: 0

It is a fine seasoning for joy to think of those we love. Votes: 0

If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh useless. Votes: 0

A husband is a plaster that cures all the ills of girlhood. Votes: 0

Birth is nothing where virtue is not Votes: 0

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. Votes: 0

It is good food and not fine words that keeps me alive. Votes: 0

The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it. Votes: 0

Grammar, which can govern even Kings. Votes: 0

The great ambition of women is to inspire love. Votes: 0

If you suppress grief too much, it can well redouble. Votes: 0

To inspire love is a woman's greatest ambition, believe me. It's the one thing woman care about and there's no woman so proud that she does not rejoice at heart in her conquests. Votes: 0

To find yourself jilted is a blow to your pride. Do your best to forget it and if you don't succeed, at least pretend to. Votes: 0

I have the knack of easing scruples. Votes: 0

Frankly, it's good enough to lock up in a drawer. Votes: 0

The more powerful the obstacle, the more glory we have in overcoming it; and the difficulties with which we are met are the maids of honor which set off virtue. Votes: 0

Men often marry in hasty recklessness and repent afterward all their lives. Votes: 0

I find medicine is the best of all trades because whether you do any good or not you still. Get your money. Votes: 0

Cultivated people should be superior to any consideration so sordid as a mercenary interest. Votes: 0

It may cost me twenty thousand francs; but for twenty thousand francs, I will have the right to rail against the iniquity of humanity, and to devote to it my eternal hatred. Votes: 0

I hate all men, the ones because they are mean and vicious, and the others for being complaisant with the vicious ones. Votes: 0

I want people to be sincere; a man of honor shouldn't speak a single word that doesn't come straight from his heart. Votes: 0

Music and dance are all you need. Votes: 0

Tobacco is the passion of honest men and he who lives without tobacco is not worthy of living. Votes: 0

Of all the noises known to man, opera is the most expensive. Votes: 0

There are pretenders to piety as well as to courage. Votes: 0

Esteem must be founded on preference: to hold everyone in high esteem is to esteem nothing. Votes: 0

Good Heavens! For more than forty years I have been speaking prose without knowing it. Votes: 0

Age brings about everything; but it is not the time, Madam, as we know, to be a prude at twenty. Votes: 0

The more we love our friends, the less we flatter them; it is by excusing nothing that pure love shows itself. Votes: 0

Grammar, which knows how to control even kings Votes: 0

The difference between moral dilemmas and ethical ones, philosophers say, is that in moral issues the choice is between right and wrong. In ethics, the choice is between two rights Votes: 0

Debts are nowadays like children begot with pleasure, but brought forth in pain Votes: 0

We ought to punish pitilessly that shameful pretence of friendly intercourse. I like a man to be a man, and to show on all occasions the bottom of his heart in his discourse. Let that be the thing to speak, and never let our feelings be beneath vain compliments Votes: 0

Grammar, which knows how to control even kings. Votes: 0

I become quite melancholy and deeply grieved to see men behave to each other as they do. Everywhere I find nothing but base flattery, injustice , self-interest, deceit and roguery. I cannot bear it any longer; I'm furious; and my intention is to break with all mankind. Votes: 0

You may plainly perceive the traitor through his mask; he is well-known everywhere in his true colors; his rolling eyes and his honeyed tones impose only on those who do not know him. Votes: 0

If perchance a friend should betray you; if he forms a subtle plot to get hold of what is yours; if people should try to spread evil reports about you, would you tamely submit to all this without flying into a rage? Votes: 0

Solitude terrifies the soul at twenty. Votes: 0

My hate is general, I detest all men;Some because they are wicked and do evil,Others because they tolerate the wicked,Refusing them the active vigorous scornWhich vice should stimulate in virtuous minds. Votes: 0

A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool. Votes: 0

Don't appear so scholarly, pray. Humanize your talk, and speak to be understood. Votes: 0

Perfect reason flees all extremity, and leads one to be wise with sobriety. Votes: 0

Perfect good sense shuns all extremity, content to couple wisdom with sobriety. Votes: 0

No reason makes it right To shun accepted ways from stubborn spite; And we may better join the foolish crowd Than cling to wisdom, lonely though unbowed. Votes: 0

The impromptu reply is precisely the touchstone of the man of wit. Votes: 0

If you make yourself understood, you're always speaking well. Votes: 0

Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error. Votes: 0

unbroken happiness is a bore: it should have ups and downs. Votes: 0

Then worms shall try That long preserved virginity, And your quaint honor turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust. The grave's a fine and private place But none, I think, do there embrace. Votes: 0

It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I'm right. Votes: 0

The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them. Votes: 0

Oh, I may be devout, but I am human all the same. Votes: 0

It's true Heaven forbids some pleasures, but a compromise can usually be found. Votes: 0

People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything. Votes: 0

...all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill in dancing. Votes: 0

A good husband be the best sort of plaster for to cure a young woman's ailments. Votes: 0

A laudation in Greek is of marvellous efficacy on the title-page of a book. Votes: 0

A woman always has her revenge ready. Votes: 0

According to the saying of an ancient philosopher, one should eat to live, and not live to eat Votes: 0

Ah! devout though I may be, I am no less a man! Votes: 0

Ah, there are no children nowadays. Votes: 0

Ah, there are no longer any children! Votes: 0

All extremes does perfect reason flee, And wishes to be wise quite soberly. Votes: 0

All is wholesome in the absence of excess. Votes: 0

All right-minded people adore it; and anyone who is able to live without it is unworthy to draw breathe Votes: 0

All the power is with the sex that wears the beard. Votes: 0

All the satires of the stage should be viewed without discomfort. They are public mirrors, where we are never to admit that we seeourselves; one admits to a fault when one is scandalized by its censure. Votes: 0

All which is not prose is verse; and all which is not verse is prose. Votes: 0

And knowing money is a root of evil, in Christian charity, he'd take away whatever things may hinder your salvation. Votes: 0

And with his arms crossed he looks pityingly down from his spiritual height on everything that anyone says. Votes: 0

Anyone may be an honorable man, and yet write verse badly. Votes: 0

Assassination's the fastest way. Votes: 0

Beauty without intelligence is like a hook without bait. Votes: 0

Betrayed and wronged in everything, I'll flee this bitter world where vice is king, And seek some spot unpeopled and apart Where I'll be free to have an honest heart. - MoliÃ¨re, The Misanthrope Votes: 0

Better to be married than dead! Votes: 0

Birth is nothing without virtue, and we have no claim to share in the glory of our ancestors unless we endeavor to resemble them. Votes: 0

Birth means nothing where there is no virtue. Votes: 0

But it is not reason that governs love. Votes: 0

Consistency is only suitable for ridicule. Votes: 0

Cover that bosom that I must not see: souls are wounded by such things. Votes: 0

Debts are nowadays like children begot with pleasure, but brought forth in pain. Votes: 0

Deference and intimacy live far apart. Votes: 0

Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truths. Votes: 0

Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truths. It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do. A lover whose passion is extreme loves even the faults of the beloved Votes: 0

Each day my reason tells me so; But reason doesn't rule in love, you know. Votes: 0

Esteem must be founded on some sort of preference. Bestow it on everybody and it ceases to have any meaning at all. Votes: 0

Even Rome cannot grant us a dispensation from death. Votes: 0

Everyone has a right to his own course of action. Votes: 0

Everything that's prose isn't verse and everything that isn't verse is prose. Now you see what it is to be a scholar! Votes: 0

Folk whose own behavior is most ridiculous are always to the fore in slandering others. Votes: 0

Gold gives to the ugliest thing a certain charming air, For that without it were else a miserable affair. Votes: 0

Gold is the key, whatever else we try; and that sweet metal aids the conqueror in every case, in love as well as war. Votes: 0

Gold makes the ugly beautiful. Votes: 0

Grammar, which knows how to lord it over kings, and with high hands makes them obey its laws Votes: 0

He makes his cook his merit, and the world visits his dinners and not him. Votes: 0

He must have killed a lot of men to have made so much money. Votes: 0

Heaven forbids, it is true, certain gratifications, but there are ways and means of compounding such matters. Votes: 0

How easily a fathers tenderness is recalled, and how quickly a son's offenses vanish at the slightest word of repentance! Votes: 0

How strange it is to see with how much passion People see things only in their own fashion! Votes: 0

Human weakness is to desire to know what one does not want to know. Votes: 0

Hypocrisy is a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtue. Votes: 0

I always do the first line well, but I have trouble doing the others. Votes: 0

I believe that two and two are four and that four and four are eight. Votes: 0

I have a heart to love all the world; and like Alexander I wish there were yet other worlds, so I could carry even further my amorous conquests. Votes: 0

I might, by chance, write something just as shoddy; But then I wouldn't show it to everybody. Votes: 0

I prefer an interesting vice to a virtue that bores. Votes: 0

I recover my property wherever I find it. Votes: 0

I will maintain it before the whole world. Votes: 0

I will not leave you until I have seen you hanged. Votes: 0

I would like to be like my father and all the rest of my ancestors who never married. Votes: 0

In clothes as well as speech, the man of sense Will shun all these extremes that give offense, Dress unaffectedly, and, without haste, Follow the changes in the current taste. Votes: 0

In order to prove a friend to one's guests, frugality must reign in one's meals; and, according to an ancient saying, one must eat to live, not live to eat. Votes: 0

In society one needs a flexible virtue; too much goodness can be blamable. Votes: 0

Innocence is not accustomed to blush. Votes: 0

Innocence is not accustomed to blush. [Fr., L'innocence a rougir n'est point accoutumee.] Votes: 0

Isn't the greatest rule of all the rules simply to please? Votes: 0

It is a folly second to none; to try to improve the world. Votes: 0

It is fine for a woman to know a lot; but I don't want her to have this shocking desire to be learned for learnedness sake. When I ask a woman a question, I like her to pretend to ignore what she really knows. Votes: 0

It is madness beyond compare To try to reform the world. Votes: 0

It's an odd job, making decent people laugh. Votes: 0

Its as if you think you'd never find Reason and the Sacred intertwined Votes: 0

Love is a great master. It teaches us to be what we never were. Votes: 0

Malicious men may die, but malice never. Votes: 0

Malicious tongues spread their poison abroad and nothing here below is proof against them. Votes: 0

Man, I can assure you, is a nasty creature. Votes: 0

Man's greatest weakness is his love for life. Votes: 0

Most people die from the remedy rather than from the illness. Votes: 0

My heavens! I've been talking prose for the last forty years without knowing it. Votes: 0

Nearly all men die of their medicines, not of their diseases. Votes: 0

New-born desires, after all, have inexplicable charms, and all the pleasure of love is in variety. Votes: 0

No matter what everybody says, ultimately these things can harm us only by the way we react to them. Votes: 0

No one is safe from slander. The best way is to pay no attention to it, but live in innocence and let the world talk. Votes: 0

Nothing can be fairer, or more noble, than the holy fervor of true zeal. Votes: 0

Of all human foibles love of living is the most powerful. Votes: 0

Oh, how fine it is to know a thing or two. Votes: 0

One can be well-bred and write bad poetry Votes: 0

One cannot but mistrust a prospect of felicity: one must enjoy it before one can believe in it. Votes: 0

One easily bears moral reproof, but never mockery. Votes: 0

One is easily fooled by that which one loves. Votes: 0

One should eat to live, not live to eat. Votes: 0

Our minds need relaxation, and give way unless we mix with work a little play. Votes: 0

Outside of Paris, there is no hope for the cultured. Votes: 0

People are all alike in their promises. It is only in their deeds that they differ. Votes: 0

People can be induced to swallow anything, provided it is sufficiently seasoned with praise. Votes: 0

People spend most of their lives worrying about things that never happen. Votes: 0

Perfect reason avoids all extremes. Votes: 0

Reasoning is the pastime of my whole household, and all this reasoning has driven out Reason. Votes: 0

Rest assured that there is nothing which wounds the heart of a noble man more deeply than the thought his honour is assailed. Votes: 0

She is laughing up her sleeve at you. Votes: 0

Show some mercy to this chair which has stretched out its arms to you for so long; please satisfy its desire to embrace you! Votes: 0

Sometimes I feel something akin to rage At the corrupted morals of this age! Votes: 0

Stay awhile that we may make an end the sooner. Votes: 0

That must be fine, for I don't understand a word. Votes: 0

The absence of the beloved, short though it may last, always lasts too long. Votes: 0

The ancients, sir, are the ancients, and we are the people of today. Votes: 0

The art of flatterers is to take advantage of the foibles of the great, to foster their errors, and never to give advice which may annoy. Votes: 0

The defects of human nature afford us opportunities of exercising our philosophy, the best employment of our virtues. If all men were righteous, all hearts true and frank and loyal, what use would our virtues be? Votes: 0

The envious will die, but envy never. [Fr., Les envieux mourront, mais non jamais l'envie.] Votes: 0

The general public is easy. You don't have to answer to anyone; and as long as you follow the rules of your profession, you needn't worry about the consequences. But the problem with the powerful and rich is that when they are sick, they really want their doctors to cure them. Votes: 0

The genuine Amphitryon is the Amphitryon with whom we dine. Votes: 0

The most effective way of attacking vice is to expose it to public ridicule. People can put up with rebukes but they cannot bear being laughed at: they are prepared to be wicked but they dislike appearing ridiculous. Votes: 0

The only people who can be excused for letting a bad book loose on the world are the poor devils who have to write for a living. Votes: 0

The proof of true love is to be unsparing in criticism. Votes: 0

The public scandal is what constitutes the offence: sins sinned in secret are no sins at all. Votes: 0

The road is a long one from the projection of a thing to its accomplishment. Votes: 0

The road is long fro the project to its completion. Votes: 0

The scandal of the world is what makes the offence; it is not sinful to sin in silence. Votes: 0

The smallest errors are always the best. Votes: 0

The smallest errors are always the best. [Fr., Les plus courtes erreurs sont toujours les meilleures.] Votes: 0

The true touchstone of wit is the impromptu. Votes: 0

The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair. Votes: 0

There is no fate more distressing for an artist than to have to show himself off before fools, to see his work exposed to the criticism of the vulgar and ignorant. Votes: 0

There is no praise to bear the sort that you put in your pocket. Votes: 0

There is no protection against slander. Votes: 0

There is no rampart that will hold out against malice. Votes: 0

There is no reward so delightful, no pleasure so exquisite, as having one's work known and acclaimed by those whose applause confers honor. Votes: 0

There is no secret of the heart which our actions do not disclose. Votes: 0

There is nothing so necessary for men as dancing. Votes: 0

There is something inexpressibly charming in falling in love and, surely, the whole pleasure lies in the fact that love isn't lasting. Votes: 0

There's a sort of decency among the dead, a remarkable discretion: you never find them making any complaint against the doctor who killed them! Votes: 0

There's nothing people can't contrive to praise or condemn and find justification for doing so, according to their age and their inclinations. Votes: 0

Things are only worth what you make them worth. Votes: 0

Those whose conduct gives room for talk are always the first to attack their neighbors. Votes: 0

Time has nothing to do with the matter. Votes: 0

To create a public scandal is what's wicked; to sin in private is not a sin. Votes: 0

To live without loving is not really to live. Votes: 0

To marry a fool is to be no fool. Votes: 0

Too great haste leads us to error. Votes: 0

True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise. Votes: 0

Virtue is the first title of nobility. Votes: 0

We are all mortals, and each is for himself. Votes: 0

We are easily duped by those we love. Votes: 0

We live under a prince who is an enemy to fraud, a prince whose eyes penetrate into the heart, and whom all the art of impostors can't deceive. Votes: 0

We must take the good with the bad; For the good when it's good, is so very good That the bad when it's bad can't be bad! Votes: 0

We ought always to conform to the manners of the greater number, and so behave as not to draw attention to ourselves. Excess either way shocks, and every man truly wise ought to attend to this in his dress as well as language, never to be affected in anything and follow without being in too great haste the changes of fashion. Votes: 0

We should look long and carefully at ourselves before we pass judgement on others. Votes: 0

What a terrible thing to be a great lord, yet a wicked man. Votes: 0

What! Would you make no distinction between hypocrisy and devotion? Would you give them the same names, and respect the mask as you do the face? Would you equate artifice and sincerity? Confound appearance with truth? Regard the phantom as the very person? Value counterfeit as cash? Votes: 0

When there is enough to eat for eight, there is plenty for ten. Votes: 0

When you model yourself on people, you should try to resemble their good sides. Votes: 0

With a smile we should instruct our youth... Votes: 0

Without dance, a man can do nothing. Votes: 0

Without knowledge, life is no more than the shadow of death Votes: 0

Wives rarely fuss about their beauty To guarantee their mate's affection. Votes: 0

Words and deeds are far from being one. Much that is talked about is left undone. Votes: 0

You are a fool in four letters, my son. Votes: 0

You are my peace, my solace, my salvation. Votes: 0

You have but to hold forth in cap and gown, and any gibberish becomes learning, all nonsense passes for sense. Votes: 0

You only die once, but you will be dead for a very long time. Votes: 0

You think you can marry for your own pleasure, friend? Votes: 0

They [zealots] would have everybody be as blind as themselves: to them, to be clear-sighted is libertinism. Votes: 0

Once you have the cap and gown all you need do is open your mouth. Whatever nonsense you talk becomes wisdom and all the rubbish good sense. Votes: 0

Great is the fortune of he who possesses a good bottle, a good book, and a good friend. Votes: 0

I maintain, in truth, That with a smile we should instruct our youth, Be very gentle when we have to blame, And not put them in fear of virtue's name. Votes: 0

Sharing with Jupiter is never a dishonor. Votes: 0

It is a long road from conception to completion. Votes: 0

You never see the old austerity That was the essence of civility; Young people hereabouts, unbridled, now Just want. Votes: 0

Although I am a pious man, I am not the less a man. Votes: 0

Top quotes by Moliere

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