Share
×
Inspirational Quotes
Authors
Professions
Topics
Tags
Quote
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
Share
Change background
T
T
T
Change font
Original
TAGS & TOPICS
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
Break
April
Alone
Fools
Looking
Glass
Wish
Shut
Also
Glasses
Must
Foolish
Would
Fool
World
Full
Eyeglasses
More quotes by Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Of all the animals which fly in the air, walk on the land, or swim in the sea, from Paris to Peru, from Japan to Rome, the most foolish animal in my opinion is man.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Praising an honest person who doesn't deserve it, always wounds them.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Gold lends a touch of beauty even to the ugly.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
A warmed-up dinner was never worth much.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
The dreadful burden of having nothing to do.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Everything that poverty touches becomes frightful.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
A proud bigot, who is vain enough to think that he can deceive even God by affected zeal, and throwing the veil of holiness over vices, damns all mankind by the word of his power.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Let a single complete action, in one place and one day, keep the theatre packed to the last.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Whatever we well understand we express clearly, and words flow with ease.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Some excel in rhyme who reason foolishly.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Hasten slowly, and without losing heart, put your work twenty times upon the anvil. [Fr., Hatez-vous lentement et, sans perdre courage, Vingt fois sur le metier remettez votre ouvrage.]
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Who is content with nothing possesses all things.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
He who cannot limit himself will never know how to write.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
No one who cannot limit himself has ever been able to write.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
