Jean Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine, baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine, was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, and an important literary figure in the Western tradition. Racine was primarily a tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as Phèdre, Andromaque, and Athalie, although he did write one comedy, Les Plaideurs, and a muted tragedy, Esther, for the young...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth22 December 1639
CountryFrance
All is asleep: the army, the wind, and Neptune.
The part I remember best is the beginning.
Do you think you can be righteous and holy with impunity?
Sun, I come to see you for the last time.
When I'm carried away, isn't it clear that my heart contradicts my mouth?
Hippolytus can feel, and feels nothing for me!
Me, rule? Me, place the State under my law, when my feeble reason no longer rules even myself!
Do not they bring it to pass by knowing that they know nothing at all?
The glory of my name increases my shame. Less known by mortals, I could better escape their eyes.
Too much virtue can be criminal.
Without money honor is merely a disease.
I embrace my rival, but only to strangle him.
Thank the Gods! My misery exceeds all my hopes!
It is a maxim of old that among themselves all things are common to friends.