Nicolas Boileau
Nicolas Boileau
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, often known simply as Boileau, was a French poet and critic...
fool plus admire
A fool always finds one still more foolish to admire him. [Fr., Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire.]
sin committed monstrous
It is the sin which we have not committed which seems the most monstrous.
islands honor plus
Honor is like an island, rugged and without shores; we can never re-enter it once we are on the outside. [Fr., L'honneur est comme une ile escarpee et sans bords; On n'y peut plus rentrer des qu'on en est dehors.]
fool suggestions sometimes
Sometimes a fool makes a good suggestion.
beauty beautiful truth
Nothing is really beautiful but truth, and truth alone is lovely.
one-day theatre lasts
Let a single complete action, in one place and one day, keep the theatre packed to the last.
rights yield support
To support those of your rights authorized by Heaven, destroy everything rather than yield; that is the spirit of the Church.
dinner eating
A warmed-up dinner was never worth much.
envy vices virtue
When we envy another, we make their virtue our vice.
evil
Often the fear on one evil leads us into a worse.
boredom speech tedious
That which is repeated too often becomes insipid and tedious.
fool satisfied
The greatest fools are oft the most satisfied.
soul noble virtue
Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul.
gay ease poet
Happy the poet who with ease can steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe. [Lat., Heureux qui, dans ses vers, sait d'une voix legere Passer du grave au doux, du plaisant au severe.]