Moliere Famous Quotes & Sayings

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. — Moliere

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

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

Each day my reason tells me so; But reason doesn't rule in love, you know. — Moliere

The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair. — Moliere

Those whose conduct gives room for talk are always the first to attack their neighbors. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

Sometimes I feel something akin to rage At the corrupted morals of this age! — Moliere

Our minds need relaxation, and give way unless we mix with work a little play. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

I would like to be like my father and all the rest of my ancestors who never married. — Moliere

The great ambition of women is to inspire love. — Moliere

Cover that bosom that I must not see: souls are wounded by such things. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

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

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? — Moliere

He must have killed a lot of men to have made so much money. — Moliere

The heart can do anything. — Moliere

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 — Moliere

It is a long road from conception to completion. — Moliere

She is laughing up her sleeve at you. — Moliere

We must eat to live, and not live to eat. — Moliere

Birth is nothing where virtue is not — Moliere

Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows. — Moliere

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

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. — Moliere

There is nothing so necessary for men as dancing. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

People are all alike in their promises. It is only in their deeds that they differ. — Moliere

Too great haste leads us to error. — Moliere

No, you shall be, my faith! Tartuffified. — Moliere

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

Malicious tongues spread their poison abroad and nothing here below is proof against them. — Moliere

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

To live without loving is not really to live. — Moliere

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

Nearly all men die of their medicines, not of their diseases. — Moliere

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

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. — Moliere

All right-minded people adore it; and anyone who is able to live without it is unworthy to draw breathe — Moliere

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

I will not leave you until I have seen you hanged. — Moliere

It's an odd job, making decent people laugh. — Moliere

Here in the world, each human frailty Provides occasion for philosophy, And that is virtue's noblest exercise; — Moliere

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

All the power is with the sex that wears the beard. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

Better to be married than dead! — Moliere

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

Life is a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those who think. — Moliere

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

The road is long fro the project to its completion. — Moliere

What a terrible thing to be a great lord, yet a wicked man. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

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

People can be induced to swallow anything, provided it is sufficiently seasoned with praise. — Moliere

I have the knack of easing scruples. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

And with his arms crossed he looks pityingly down from his spiritual height on everything that anyone says. — Moliere

One ought to examine himself for a very long time before thinking of condemning others. — Moliere

One is easily fooled by that which one loves. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

Tobacco is the passion of honest men and he who lives without tobacco is not worthy of living. — Moliere

The proof of true love is to be unsparing in criticism. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

All extremes does perfect reason flee, And wishes to be wise quite soberly. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

Why put yourself in charge of Heaven's cause?
Does Heaven need our help to enforce its laws? — Moliere

A woman always has her revenge ready. — Moliere

You are my peace, my solace, my salvation. — Moliere

Everyone has a right to his own course of action. — Moliere

There is no rampart that will hold out against malice. — Moliere

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

Malicious men may die, but malice never. — Moliere

I hate all men, the ones because they are mean and vicious, and the others for being complaisant with the vicious ones. — Moliere

You are a fool in four letters, my son. — Moliere

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. — Moliere

Heaven forbids, it is true, certain gratifications, but there are ways and means of compounding such matters. — Moliere

We should look long and carefully at ourselves before we pass judgement on others. — Moliere

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? — Moliere

Men often marry in hasty recklessness and repent afterward all their lives. — Moliere

Innocence is not accustomed to blush. — Moliere

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! — Moliere

One must eat to live and not live to eat. — Moliere

Writing is a little bit like prostitution. First you do it for love. Then you do it for a few friends. Then you do it for money. — Moliere

Outside of Paris, there is no hope for the cultured. — Moliere

To marry a fool is to be no fool. — Moliere

Although I am a pious man, I am not the less a man. — Moliere

There is nothing I detest so much as the contortions of these great time-and-lip servers, these affable dispensers of meaningless embraces, these obliging utterers of empty words, who view every one in civilities — Moliere

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

A laudation in Greek is of marvellous efficacy on the title-page of a book. — Moliere

A shoemaker, in making a pair of shoes, cannot spoil a scrap of leather without having to bear the loss; but in our business we may spoil a man without its costing us a farthing. The blunders are never put down to us, and it is always the fault of the fellow who dies. The best of this profession is, that there is the greatest honesty and discretion among the dead; for you never find them complain of the physician who has killed them. — Moliere