Moliere
A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation.Collection: Wisdom
If you suppress grief too much, it can well redouble.Collection: Sympathy
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.Collection: Famous
One should eat to live, not live to eat.Collection: Food
A lover tries to stand in well with the pet dog of the house.Collection: Pet
We die only once, and for such a long time.Collection: Death
The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.Collection: Great
There are pretenders to piety as well as to courage.Collection: Courage
Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.Collection: Money
Love is often the fruit of marriage.Collection: Marriage
It is a fine seasoning for joy to think of those we love.Collection: Christmas
The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.Collection: Best
The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.Collection: Humor
Books and marriage go ill together.Collection: Marriage
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.Collection: Great
Of all the noises known to man, opera is the most expensive.
It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.
Grammar, which knows how to control even kings.
A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool.
It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I'm right.
Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.
The more we love our friends, the less we flatter them; it is by excusing nothing that pure love shows itself.
Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.
Of all follies there is none greater than wanting to make the world a better place.
There's nothing quite like tobacco: it's the passion of decent folk, and whoever lives without tobacco doesn't deserve to live.
Oh, how fine it is to know a thing or two.
I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue.
I live on good soup, not on fine words.
People don't mind being mean; but they never want to be ridiculous.
Ah! how annoying that the law doesn't allow a woman to change husbands just as one does shirts.
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.
If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh useless.
It is the public scandal that offends; to sin in secret is no sin at all.
As the purpose of comedy is to correct the vices of men, I see no reason why anyone should be exempt.
One ought to look a good deal at oneself before thinking of condemning others.
Don't appear so scholarly, pray. Humanize your talk, and speak to be understood.
If you make yourself understood, you're always speaking well.
To marry a fool is to be no fool.
Perfect reason flees all extremity, and leads one to be wise with sobriety.
There is no praise to bear the sort that you put in your pocket.
True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise.
I want to be distinguished from the rest; to tell the truth, a friend to all mankind is not a friend for me.
Reason is not what decides love.
Oh, I may be devout, but I am human all the same.
People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything.
Frenchmen have an unlimited capacity for gallantry and indulge it on every occasion.
It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh.
Solitude terrifies the soul at twenty.
I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.
I have the knack of easing scruples.