Molière quotes
Molière (1622–1673): French playwright and actor. The library holds 54 quotes by Molière, drawn from L’Avare, Le Médecin malgré lui, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and other works. The 54 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, family, faith, power, friendship, happiness
The best-known Molière quotes
-
The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.
-
The envious will die, but envy never.
-
Ah! there are no children now-a-days!
-
What a delight to have a husband beside you, were it only to salute you when you sneeze, and say “God bless you!”
-
Pass you me the rhubarb, and I will pass you the senna, i.e., shut your eyes to my faults, and I will to yours.
-
The impromptu reply is precisely the touchstone of the man of wit.
-
You are a goldsmith, Monsieur Josse! i.e., an interested party.
-
Though I am a religious man, I am not therefore the less a man.
-
The road is a long one from the projection of a thing to its accomplishment.
-
Grammar knows how to lord it over kings, and with high hand make them obey.
-
Hypocrisy has become a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtue.
-
A nobleman who leads a degraded life is a monster in nature.
-
By my faith, age serves but little if one has not that (brains).
-
In marriage, as in other states, contentment is better than riches.
-
The art of flatterers is to take advantage of the foibles of the great, to foster their errors, and never to give advice which may annoy.
-
Tell me to whom you are addressing yourself when you say that. I am addressing myself—I am addressing myself to my cap.
L’Avare, Act i. Sc. 3 -
When we aspire to imitate any one, it is after his fine qualities we must fashion ourselves.
-
Nothing can be fairer, or more noble, than the holy fervor of true zeal.
-
The more powerful the obstacle, the more glory we have in overcoming it; and the difficulties with which we are met are the maids of honour which set off virtue.
-
We often marry in despair, so that we repent of it all our life after.
-
A husband is a plaster that cures all the ills of girlhood.
-
You are speaking before a man to whom all Naples is known.
L’Avare, Act v. Sc. 5 -
I have been speaking prose forty years without knowing it.
-
In marriage, as in other things, contentment excels wealth.
-
He who is the friend of every one has no interest for me.
-
Ah that I—You would have it so, you would have it so; George Dandin, you would have it so! This suits you very nicely, and you are served right; you have precisely what you deserve.
George Dandin, Act i. Sc. 19 -
No one shall have wit except ourselves and our friends.
-
We have changed all that.
Le Médecin malgré lui, Act ii. Sc. 6 -
The real Amphitryon is the Amphitryon who gives dinners.
Amphitryon, Act iii. Sc. 5 -
Grammar, that knows how to lord it even over kings.
-
Call it a rag, if you please; my rag is dear to me.
-
We always speak well when we manage to be understood.
-
A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant fool.
-
Although I am a pious man, I am not the less a man.
Le Tartuffe, Act iii. Sc. 3 -
One can bear to be rebuked, but not to be laughed at.
-
My fair one, let us swear an eternal friendship.
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Act iv. Sc. 1 -
Impromptu is precisely the touchstone of wit.
-
The male alone has been appointed to bear rule.
-
Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.
-
Grammar, which knows how to control even kings.
Les Femmes savantes, Act ii. Sc. 6 -
What the devil did he want in that galley?
Les Fourberies de Scapin, Act ii. Sc. 11 -
The world, dear Agnes, is a queer concern.
-
The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair.
L’École des Femmes, Act ii. Sc. 6 -
We are easily duped by those whom we love.
-
I will maintain it before the whole world.
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Act iv. Sc. 5 -
Virtue is the first title of nobility.
-
Ah, there are no longer any children!
Le Malade Imaginaire, Act ii. Sc. 11 -
We are easily duped by those we love.
-
Man, I tell you, is a vicious animal.
-
Birth is nothing where virtue is not.
-
I take my own where I find it.
-
The beautiful eyes of my cash-box.
L’Avare, Act v. Sc. 3 -
There are fagots and fagots.
Le Médecin malgré lui, Act i. Sc. 6 -
To speak prose without knowing it.
Where these quotes come from
- L’Avare (3 quotes)
- Le Médecin malgré lui (2 quotes)
- Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (2 quotes)
- George Dandin (1 quote)
- Amphitryon (1 quote)
- Le Tartuffe (1 quote)
- Les Femmes savantes (1 quote)
- Les Fourberies de Scapin (1 quote)
Every quote comes from a public-domain edition. How the library was made .