Top 200 Molière Quotes (2024 Update)
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51. “Most people die from the remedy rather than from the illness.”

— Molière

52. “I want people to be sincere; a man of honor shouldn’t speak a single word that doesn’t come straight from his heart.”

— Molière

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

— Molière

54. “Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.”

— Molière

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

— Molière

56. “A woman always has her revenge ready.”

— Molière

57. “In society one needs a flexible virtue; too much goodness can be blamable.”

— Molière

58. “The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.”

— Molière

59. “Malicious men may die, but malice never.”

— Molière

60. “Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truths.”

— Molière

61. “Of all follies there is none greater than wanting to make the world a better place.”

— Molière

62. “Words and deeds are far from being one. Much that is talked about is left undone.”

— Molière

63. “The envious will die, but envy never.”

— Molière

64. “There is no secret of the heart which our actions do not disclose.”

— Molière

65. “People can be induced to swallow anything, provided it is sufficiently seasoned with praise.”

— Molière

66. “If you suppress grief too much, it can well redouble.”

— Molière

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

— Molière

68. “Virtue is the first title of nobility.”

— Molière

69. “Don’t appear so scholarly, pray. Humanize your talk, and speak to be understood.”

— Molière

70. “No matter what everybody says, ultimately these things can harm us only by the way we react to them.”

— Molière

71. “There is no protection against slander.”

— Molière

72. “Consistency is only suitable for ridicule.”

— Molière

73. “Show some mercy to this chair which has stretched out its arms to you for so long; please satisfy its desire to embrace you!”

— Molière

74. “The true touchstone of wit is the impromptu.”

— Molière

75. “Too great haste leads us to error.”

— Molière

76. “Without dance, a man can do nothing.”

— Molière

77. “To marry a fool is to be no fool.”

— Molière

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

— Molière

79. “The smallest errors are always the best.”

— Molière

80. “In clothes as well as speech, the man of sense Will shun all these extremes that give offense, Dress unaffectedly, and, without haste, Follow the changes in the current taste.”

— Molière

81. “You only die once, but you will be dead for a very long time.”

— Molière

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

— Molière

83. “Good Heavens! For more than forty years I have been speaking prose without knowing it.”

— Molière

84. “We live under a prince who is an enemy to fraud, a prince whose eyes penetrate into the heart, and whom all the art of impostors can’t deceive.”

— Molière

85. “The absence of the beloved, short though it may last, always lasts too long.”

— Molière

86. “The impromptu reply is precisely the touchstone of the man of wit.”

— Molière

87. “The proof of true love is to be unsparing in criticism.”

— Molière

88. “My fair one, let us swear an eternal friendship.”

— Molière

89. “I hate all men, the ones because they are mean and vicious, and the others for being complaisant with the vicious ones.”

— Molière

90. “It is a fine seasoning for joy to think of those we love.”

— Molière

91. “The most effective way of attacking vice is to expose it to public ridicule. People can put up with rebukes but they cannot bear being laughed at: they are prepared to be wicked but they dislike appearing ridiculous.”

— Molière

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

— Molière

93. “The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.”

— Molière

94. “Birth is nothing without virtue, and we have no claim to share in the glory of our ancestors unless we endeavor to resemble them.”

— Molière

95. “Le plus grand faible des hommes, c’est l’amour qu’ils ont de la vie.”

— Molière

96. “I believe that two and two are four and that four and four are eight.”

— Molière

97. “Folk whose own behavior is most ridiculous are always to the fore in slandering others.”

— Molière

98. “And with his arms crossed he looks pityingly down from his spiritual height on everything that anyone says.”

— Molière

99. “If Claret is the king of natural wines, Burgundy is the queen.”

— Molière

100. “Betrayed and wronged in everything, I’ll flee this bitter world where vice is king, And seek some spot unpeopled and apart Where I’ll be free to have an honest heart.”

— Molière