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The world is full of fools and he who would not wish to see one, must not only shut himself up alone, but must also break his looking-glass.

Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux

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Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Age: 75 †
Born: 1636
Born: January 1
Died: 1711
Died: January 1
Historian
Lawyer
Literary Critic
Poet
Writer
Paris
France
Boileau
Nicolas Boileau
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Would
Fool
World
Full
Eyeglasses
Break
April
Alone
Fools
Looking
Glass
Wish
Shut
Also
Glasses
Must
Foolish

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Now two punctilious envoys, Thine and Mine, Embroil the earth about a fancied line And, dwelling much on right and much on wrong, Prove how the right is chiefly with the strong.
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He who cannot limit himself will never know how to write.
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Of every four words I write, I strike out three.
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What is conceived well is expressed clearly.
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Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul.
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Everything that poverty touches becomes frightful.
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However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.
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All men are fools, and with every effort they differ only in the degree.
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Whatever we well understand we express clearly, and words flow with ease.
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Honor is like an island, rugged and without a beach once we have left it, we can never return.
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Of all the creatures that creep, swim, or fly, Peopling the earth, the waters, and the sky, From Rome to Iceland, Paris to Japan, I really think the greatest fool is man.
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Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.
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Gold lends a touch of beauty even to the ugly.
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A warmed-up dinner was never worth much.
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He [Moliere] pleases all the world, but cannot please himself.
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If your descent is from heroic sires, Show in your life a remnant of their fires.
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It is in vain a daring author thinks of attaining to the heights of Parnassus if he does not feel the secret influence of heaven and if his natal star has not formed him to be a poet.
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Some excel in rhyme who reason foolishly.
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Gold gives an appearance of beauty even to ugliness: But with poverty everything becomes frightful.
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