Quote

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

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

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

More quotes by Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux

Image
He who cannot limit himself will never know how to write.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
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
Image
Of every four words I write, I strike out three.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
Truth has not such an urgent air.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
A burlesque word is often a powerful sermon.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
When we envy another, we make their virtue our vice.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
The dreadful burden of having nothing to do.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
Nothing but truth is lovely, nothing fair.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
Honor is like an island, rugged and without a beach once we have left it, we can never return.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
Gold lends a touch of beauty even to the ugly.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
Everything that poverty touches becomes frightful.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
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
Image
No one who cannot limit himself has ever been able to write.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
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
Image
Some excel in rhyme who reason foolishly.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
Sometimes a fool makes a good suggestion.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
Let a single complete action, in one place and one day, keep the theatre packed to the last.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Image
Ignorance is always ready to admire itself. Procure yourself critical friends.
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux