Quotes from Moliere

It may cost me twenty thousand francs; but for twenty thousand francs, I will have the right to rail against the iniquity of humanity, and to devote to it my eternal hatred.

It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I'm right.

Perfect reason flees all extremity, and leads one to be wise with sobriety.

True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise.

To live without loving is not really to live.

Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.

Beauty without intelligence is like a hook without bait.

A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool.

It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.

Esteem must be founded on some sort of preference. Bestow it on everybody and it ceases to have any meaning at all.

Oh, how fine it is to know a thing or two.

You have but to hold forth in cap and gown, and any gibberish becomes learning, all nonsense passes for sense.

Reasoning is the pastime of my whole household, and all this reasoning has driven out Reason.

A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation.

There are pretenders to piety as well as to courage.

Esteem must be founded on preference: to hold everyone in high esteem is to esteem nothing.

With a smile we should instruct our youth.

I maintain, in truth, That with a smile we should instruct our youth, Be very gentle when we have to blame, And not put them in fear of virtue's name.

The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair.

Without knowledge, life is no more than the shadow of death

In society one needs a flexible virtue; too much goodness can be blamable.

It is madness beyond compare To try to reform the world.

And with his arms crossed he looks pityingly down from his spiritual height on everything that anyone says.

There's nothing quite like tobacco: it's the passion of decent folk, and whoever lives without tobacco doesn't deserve to live.