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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.
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
Heaven
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Parnassus
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More quotes by Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul.
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
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
Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
If your descent is from heroic sires, Show in your life a remnant of their fires.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Of every four words I write, I strike out three.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Let a single complete action, in one place and one day, keep the theatre packed to the last.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Gold lends a touch of beauty even to the ugly.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Everything that poverty touches becomes frightful.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.
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
What is conceived well is expressed clearly.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
A burlesque word is often a powerful sermon.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
He [Moliere] pleases all the world, but cannot please himself.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
A warmed-up dinner was never worth much.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Who is content with nothing possesses all things.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Praising an honest person who doesn't deserve it, always wounds them.
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
Nothing but truth is lovely, nothing fair.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
