Moliere

As the purpose of comedy is to correct the vices of men, I see no reason why anyone should be exempt.

— Moliere

Great is the fortune of he who possesses a good bottle, a good book, and a good friend.

— Moliere

Cultivated people should be superior to any consideration so sordid as a mercenary interest.

— Moliere

They [zealots] would have everybody be as blind as themselves: to them, to be clear-sighted is libertinism.

— Moliere

Human weakness is to desire to know what one does not want to know.

— Moliere

Cover that bosom that I must not see: souls are wounded by such things.

— Moliere

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.

— Moliere

The scandal of the world is what makes the offence; it is not sinful to sin in silence.

— Moliere

All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of…

— Moliere

“There is nothing I detest so much as the contortions of these great time-and-lip servers, these affable dispensers of meaningless embraces, these…

— Molière

“Betrayed and wronged in everything, I’ll flee this bitter world where vice is king, And seek some spot unpeopled and apart Where…

— Molière

You never see the old austerity That was the essence of civility; Young people hereabouts, unbridled, now Just want.

— Moliere

There's a sort of decency among the dead, a remarkable discretion: you never find them making any complaint against the doctor who…

— Moliere

“My hate is general, I detest all men; Some because they are wicked and do evil, Others because they tolerate the wicked,…

— Moliere

The defects of human nature afford us opportunities of exercising our philosophy, the best employment of our virtues. If all men were…

— Moliere

No reason makes it right To shun accepted ways from stubborn spite; And we may better join the foolish crowd Than cling…

— Moliere

I want to be distinguished from the rest; to tell the truth, a friend to all mankind is not a friend for…

— Moliere

It is a folly second to none; to try to improve the world.

— Moliere

“All right, then: I'm deluded and I'm blind.   CLITANDRE”

— Molière

“Life is a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those who think.”

— Molière

The secret to fencing consists in two things: to give and to not receive.

— Moliere

Nothing can be fairer, or more noble, than the holy fervor of true zeal.

— Moliere

A husband is a plaster that cures all the ills of girlhood.

— Moliere

“I have the defect of being more sincere than persons wish.”

— Moliere

“I am, I fear, Inclined to be unfashionably sincere.   ORONTE”

— Molière

The public scandal is what constitutes the offence: sins sinned in secret are no sins at all.

— Moliere

Tobacco is the passion of honest men and he who lives without tobacco is not worthy of living.

— Moliere

One ought to look a good deal at oneself before thinking of condemning others.

— Moliere

Gold gives to the ugliest thing a certain charming air, For that without it were else a miserable affair.

— Moliere

It is the public scandal that offends; to sin in secret is no sin at all.

— Moliere

All which is not prose is verse; and all which is not verse is prose.

— Moliere

Those whose conduct gives room for talk are always the first to attack their neighbors.

— Moliere

Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.

— Moliere

Of all the noises known to man, opera is the most expensive.

— Moliere

The smallest errors are always the best. [Fr., Les plus courtes erreurs sont toujours les meilleures.]

— Moliere

People are all alike in their promises. It is only in their deeds that they differ.

— Moliere

“The more we love someone, the less we flatter them; it is by excusing nothing that true love shows itself.”

— Molière

The essence of fencing is to give, but by no means to receive.

— Moliere

[Dom Juan] believes neither in Heaven, nor the saints, nor God, nor the Werewolf.

— Moliere

“That virtue in this world is hated ever; Malicious men may die, but malice never.     ORGON”

— Molière