Moliere

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Books and marriage go ill together.

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

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

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

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

Grammar, which knows how to control even kings.

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

I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.

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

I have the knack of easing scruples.

I live on good soup, not on fine words.

I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue.

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh.

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

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

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

Love is often the fruit of marriage.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

One should eat to live, not live to eat.

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

People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything.

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

Reason is not what decides love.

Solitude terrifies the soul at twenty.

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.

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

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.

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

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

There are pretenders to piety as well as to courage.

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

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

To marry a fool is to be no fool.

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

Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.

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

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