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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

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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
Walk
Rome
Walks
Swim
Land
Japan
Animal
Paris
Opinion
Foolish
Nature
Animals
Humans
Sea
Men
Air
Peru

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Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.
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No one who cannot limit himself has ever been able to write.
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Who is content with nothing possesses all things.
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He [Moliere] pleases all the world, but cannot please himself.
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The dreadful burden of having nothing to do.
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Of every four words I write, I strike out three.
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Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me.
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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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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.]
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When we envy another, we make their virtue our vice.
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Truth has not such an urgent air.
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He who cannot limit himself will never know how to write.
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Let a single complete action, in one place and one day, keep the theatre packed to the last.
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If your descent is from heroic sires, Show in your life a remnant of their fires.
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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.
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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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It is the sin which we have not committed which seems the most monstrous.
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Gold lends a touch of beauty even to the ugly.
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Some excel in rhyme who reason foolishly.
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Nothing but truth is lovely, nothing fair.
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