Top 200 Molière Quotes (2024 Update)
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151. “I want to be distinguished from the rest; to tell the truth, a friend to all mankind is not a friend for me.”

— Molière

152. “When there is enough to eat for eight, there is plenty for ten.”

— Molière

153. “The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair.”

— Molière

154. “There is no fate more distressing for an artist than to have to show himself off before fools, to see his work exposed to the criticism of the vulgar and ignorant.”

— Molière

155. “Frankly, it’s good enough to lock up in a drawer.”

— Molière

156. “Grammar, which knows how to lord it over kings, and with high hands makes them obey its laws.”

— Molière

157. “I find medicine is the best of all trades because whether you do any good or not you still. Get your money.”

— Molière

158. “Gold is the key, whatever else we try; and that sweet metal aids the conqueror in every case, in love as well as war.”

— Molière

159. “How easily a fathers tenderness is recalled, and how quickly a son’s offenses vanish at the slightest word of repentance!”

— Molière

160. “Sometimes I feel something akin to rage At the corrupted morals of this age!”

— Molière

161. “Malicious tongues spread their poison abroad and nothing here below is proof against them.”

— Molière

162. “All which is not prose is verse; and all which is not verse is prose.”

— Molière

163. “When we are understood, we always speak well, and then all your fine diction serves no purpose.”

— Molière

164. “The genuine Amphitryon is the Amphitryon with whom we dine.”

— Molière

165. “It may cost me twenty thousand francs; but for twenty thousand francs, I will have the right to rail against the iniquity of humanity, and to devote to it my eternal hatred.”

— Molière

166. “Of all human foibles love of living is the most powerful.”

— Molière

167. “Frenchmen have an unlimited capacity for gallantry and indulge it on every occasion.”

— Molière

168. “He who follows his lessons tastes a profound peace, and looks upon everybody as a bunch of manure.”

— Molière

169. “I maintain, in truth, That with a smile we should instruct our youth, Be very gentle when we have to blame, And not put them in fear of virtue’s name.”

— Molière

170. “True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise.”

— Molière

171. “Once you have the cap and gown all you need do is open your mouth. Whatever nonsense you talk becomes wisdom and all the rubbish good sense.”

— Molière

172. “Oh, I may be devout, but I am human all the same.”

— Molière

173. “We are all mortals, and each is for himself.”

— Molière

174. “My heavens! I’ve been talking prose for the last forty years without knowing it.”

— Molière

175. “You think you can marry for your own pleasure, friend?”

— Molière

176. “Assassination’s the fastest way.”

— Molière

177. “Even Rome cannot grant us a dispensation from death.”

— Molière

178. “In order to prove a friend to one’s guests, frugality must reign in one’s meals; and, according to an ancient saying, one must eat to live, not live to eat.”

— Molière

179. “Age brings about everything; but it is not the time, Madam, as we know, to be a prude at twenty.”

— Molière

180. “There is no reward so delightful, no pleasure so exquisite, as having one’s work known and acclaimed by those whose applause confers honor.”

— Molière

181. “Deference and intimacy live far apart.”

— Molière

182. “She is laughing up her sleeve at you.”

— Molière

183. “Stay awhile that we may make an end the sooner.”

— Molière

184. “And knowing money is a root of evil, in Christian charity, he’d take away whatever things may hinder your salvation.”

— Molière

185. “A laudation in Greek is of marvellous efficacy on the title-page of a book.”

— Molière

186. “That must be fine, for I don’t understand a word.”

— Molière

187. “All right-minded people adore it; and anyone who is able to live without it is unworthy to draw breathe.”

— Molière

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

— Molière

189. “Oh, how fine it is to know a thing or two.”

— Molière

190. “Perfect reason avoids all extremes.”

— Molière

191. “I have a heart to love all the world; and like Alexander I wish there were yet other worlds, so I could carry even further my amorous conquests.”

— Molière

192. “People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything.”

— Molière

193. “Better to be married than dead!”

— Molière

194. “Ah! how annoying that the law doesn’t allow a woman to change husbands just as one does shirts.”

— Molière

195. “How strange it is to see with how much passion People see things only in their own fashion!”

— Molière

196. “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.”

— Molière

197. “One can be well-bred and write bad poetry.”

— Molière

198. “Some of the most famous books are the least worth reading. Their fame was due to their having done something that needed to be doing in their day. The work is done and the virtue of the book has expired.”

— Molière

199. “Wives rarely fuss about their beauty To guarantee their mate’s affection.”

— Molière

200. “When you model yourself on people, you should try to resemble their good sides.”

— Molière