Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneillewas a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Jean Racine...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionDramatist
Date of Birth6 June 1606
CountryFrance
liars lying oath
A liar is always lavish of oaths. [Fr., Un menteur est toujours prodigue de serments.]
memories lying lied
A good memory is needed once we have lied. [Fr., Il faut bonne memoire apres qu'on a menti.]
happiness made seems
Happiness seems made to be shared. [Fr., Le bonheur semble fait pour etre partage.]
law broken benefits
It is a law, of the gods which is never broken, to sell somewhat dearly the great benefits which they confer on us.
fame
To myself alone do I owe my fame. [Fr., Je ne dois qu'a moi seul toute ma renommee.]
evil equal extremes
All evils are equal when they are extreme. [Fr., Et tous maux sont pareils alors qu'ils sont extremes.]
kings advice choices
It is an imprudence common to kings to listen to too much advice and to err in their choice.
fall ambition lasts
Ambition becomes displeasing when it is once satiated; there is a reaction; and as our spirit, till our last sigh, is always aiming toward some object, it falls back on itself, having nothing else on which to rest; and having reached the summit, it longs to descend.
heaven wicked pay
Heaven often regulates effects by their causes, and pays the wicked what they have deserved.
lying men brave
Every brave man is a man of his word; to such base vices he cannot stoop, and shuns more than death the shame of lying.
lying gay mirrors
These flattering mirrors reflect imperfectly what is within; the countenance is often a gay deceiver. What defects of mind lie hidden under its beauty! What fair exteriors conceal base souls!
men injury he-man
The man who pardons easily courts injury.
royalty plus proof
Clemency is the surest proof of a true monarch. [Fr., La clemence est la plus belle marque Qui fasse a l'univers connaitre un vrai monqrque.]
guilt shame
It is the guilt, not the scaffold, which constitutes the shame.