Quotes from Moliere

We must eat to live, and not live to eat.

Why put yourself in charge of Heaven's cause? Does Heaven need our help to enforce its laws?

We'll let time knit these gentle ties between us.

It's a veritable Tower of Babylon, The way you people babble on.

Grammar, which knows how to control even kings.

All of the ills of mankind, all of the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books ...have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.

Good sense avoids all extremes, and requires us to be soberly rational. This unbending and virtuous stiffness of ancient times shocks too much the ordinary customs of our own; it requires too great perfection from us mortals; we must yield to the times without being too stubborn; it is the height of folly to busy ourselves in correcting the world.

Birth means nothing where there is no virtue.

That any gentleman should always keep In stern control this writing itch we're seized with; That he must hold in check the great impatience We feel to give the world these idle pastimes; For, through this eagerness to show our works, 'Tis likely we shall cut a foolish figure.

Like many humorless and indignant people, he is hard on everybody but himself, and does not perceive it when he fails his own ideal.

What a terrible thing to be a great lord, yet a wicked man.

Displaying vice to the mockery of men deals it a great blow. Men put up with admonition but are loath to be mocked. One might be willing to be wicked; one cannot bear to appear foolish.

C'est un parleur étrange, et qui trouve toujours L'art de ne vous rien dire avec de grands discours.

Monsieur, c'est trop d'honneur que vous me voulez faire; Mais l'amitié demande un peu plus de mystère, Et c'est assurément en profaner le nom Que de vouloir le mettre à toute occasion. Avec lumière et choix cette union veut naître; Avant que nous lier, il faut nous mieux connaître, Et nous pourrions avoir telles complexions, Que tous deux du marché nous nous repentirions.

Loin d'être aux lois d'un homme en esclave asservie, Mariez-vous, ma soeur, à la philosophie.

I marvel at your power to be mistaken.

Deceived on all sides, overwhelmed with injustice, I will fly from an abyss where vice is triumphant, and seek out some small secluded nook on earth, where on may enjoy the freedom of being an honest man.

Quand on sait entendre, on parle toujours bien.

I'm all amazed, befuddled, and beflustered!

Trahi de toutes parts, accablé d'injustices, Je vais sortir d'un gouffre où triomphent les vices ; Et chercher sur la terre un endroit écarté Où d'être homme d'honneur, on ait la liberté.

Evil exists only when its known. Adam and Eve were public in their fall. To sin in private is not to sin at all

La nature, d'elle-même, quand nous la laissons faire, se tire doucement du désordre où elle est tombée.

Here in the world, each human frailty Provides occasion for philosophy, And that is virtue's noblest exercise;

A shoemaker, in making a pair of shoes, cannot spoil a scrap of leather without having to bear the loss; but in our business we may spoil a man without its costing us a farthing. The blunders are never put down to us, and it is always the fault of the fellow who dies. The best of this profession is, that there is the greatest honesty and discretion among the dead; for you never find them complain of the physician who has killed them.