Moliere

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

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

I have the knack of easing scruples.

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.

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.

To marry a fool is to be no fool.

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

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

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

I live on good soup, not on fine words.

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

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

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

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

Grammar, which knows how to control even kings.

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

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

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

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

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

I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.

There are pretenders to piety as well as to courage.

All which is not prose is verse; and all which is not verse is prose.

One ought to look a good deal at oneself before thinking of condemning others.

I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue.

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

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

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.

People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything.

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

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

A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool.

Solitude terrifies the soul at twenty.

One should eat to live, not live to eat.

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

Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.

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

Reason is not what decides love.

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

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

It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.

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