Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, often known simply as Boileau, was a French poet and critic...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth1 November 1636
CountryFrance
wisdom men wisest-man
The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.
happiness light graves
Happy who in his verse can gently steer From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.
age delight moral
But satire, ever moral, ever new, Delights the reader and instructs him, too. She, if good sense refine her sterling page, Oft shakes some rooted folly of the age.
world can-not please
He [Moliere] pleases all the world, but can- not please himself.
ignorance science admire
Ignorance is always ready to admire itself. Procure yourself critical friends.
truth air urgent
Truth has not such an urgent air.
wisdom humility learning
The wisest man is generally he who thinks himself the least so.
lovely truth-is fairs
Nothing but truth is lovely, nothing fair.
burden
The dreadful burden of having nothing to do.
nature spring break-through
Nature always springs to the surface and manages to show what she is. It is vain to stop or try to drive her back. She breaks through every obstacle, pushes forward, and at last makes for herself a way.
simple littles simple-living
Who lives content with little possesses everything.
fool humour admire
A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.
strong two dwelling
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.
men thinking rome
Of all the creatures that creep, swim, or fly, Peopling the earth, the waters, and the sky, From Rome to Iceland, Paris to Japan, I really think the greatest fool is man.