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Ignorance is always ready to admire itself. Procure yourself critical friends.
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
Ignorance
Ready
Friends
Science
Always
Procure
Admire
Critical
More quotes by Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
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
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
No one who cannot limit himself has ever been able to write.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
A warmed-up dinner was never worth much.
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
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
Praising an honest person who doesn't deserve it, always wounds them.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Gold gives an appearance of beauty even to ugliness: But with poverty everything becomes frightful.
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
Who is content with nothing possesses all things.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Gold lends a touch of beauty even to the ugly.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Nothing but truth is lovely, nothing fair.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
A burlesque word is often a powerful sermon.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
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.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
If your descent is from heroic sires, Show in your life a remnant of their fires.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Sometimes a fool makes a good suggestion.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
He [Moliere] pleases all the world, but cannot please himself.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
All men are fools, and with every effort they differ only in the degree.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
In spite of every sage whom Greece can show, Unerring wisdom never dwelt below Folly in all of every age we see, The only difference lies in the degree.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
