Top 140 Pierre Corneille Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Self-love is the source of all our other loves.”

— Pierre Corneille

Featured in: Romance Quotes

2. “To win without risk is to triumph without glory.”

— Pierre Corneille

3. “Every man of courage is a man of his word.”

— Pierre Corneille

4. “I am master of myself as of the universe, so I am; so I wish to be.”

— Pierre Corneille

5. “When there is no peril in the fight there is no glory in the triumph.”

— Pierre Corneille

6. “The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.”

— Pierre Corneille

7. “Do your duty and leave the rest to heaven.”

— Pierre Corneille

8. “Those who resolve to conquer or die, are rarely conquered.”

— Pierre Corneille

9. “A liar is always lavish of oaths.”

— Pierre Corneille

10. “Love lives on hope, and dies when hope is dead; It is a flame which sinks for lack of fuel.”

— Pierre Corneille

11. “Guess if you can, choose if you dare.”

— Pierre Corneille

12. “Desire increases when fulfillment is postponed.”

— Pierre Corneille

13. “Brave men are brave from the very first.”

— Pierre Corneille

14. “I would tell you I love you, Sir, if I knew what it was to love.”

— Pierre Corneille

15. “I love you much less than my God, but much more than myself.”

— Pierre Corneille

16. “Patience and time conquer all things.”

— Pierre Corneille

17. “Love is a tyrant sparing none.”

— Pierre Corneille

18. “We triumph without glory when we conquer without danger.”

— Pierre Corneille

19. “The greater the effort, the greater the glory.”

— Pierre Corneille

20. “When obedience is so impious, revolt is a necessity.”

— Pierre Corneille

21. “Peace is produced by war.”

— Pierre Corneille

22. “Time is a great manager: it arranges things well.”

— Pierre Corneille

23. “Flee an enemy who knows your weakness.”

— Pierre Corneille

24. “Obedience is a hard profession.”

— Pierre Corneille

25. “Kindness acts Not always as you think; a hated hand Renders it odious.”

— Pierre Corneille

26. “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.”

— Pierre Corneille

27. “If anyone wants to know what elephants are like, they are like people only more so.”

— Pierre Corneille

28. “Rome is no longer in Rome, it is here where I am.”

— Pierre Corneille

29. “Danger breeds best on too much confidence.”

— Pierre Corneille

30. “If you betray me, can I take a better revenge than to love the person you hate?”

— Pierre Corneille

31. “He who has resolved to conquer or die is seldom conquered; such noble despair perishes with difficulty.”

— Pierre Corneille

32. “A true king is neither husband nor father; he considers his throne and nothing else.”

— Pierre Corneille

33. “One often calms one’s grief by recounting it.”

— Pierre Corneille

34. “Violence is just, where kindness is vain.”

— Pierre Corneille

35. “For souls nobly born, valor doesn’t await the passing of years.”

— Pierre Corneille

36. “When a woman has the gift of silence she possesses a quality above the vulgar. It is a gift of Heaven seldom bestowed; without a little miracle it cannot be accomplished; and Nature suffers violence when Heaven puts a woman in the humor of observing silence.”

— Pierre Corneille

37. “Just as We never taste happiness in perfection, our most fortunate successes are mixed with sadness. So too we never taste sadness completely, as things could always be worse in some way and for this we can be grateful.”

— Pierre Corneille

38. “Good fortune leads one to the highest glory, But to renounce it calls for equal courage.”

— Pierre Corneille

39. “Oh rage! Oh despair! Oh age, my enemy!”

— Pierre Corneille

40. “This dark brightness that falls from the stars.”

— Pierre Corneille

41. “To he who avenges a father, nothing is impossible.”

— Pierre Corneille

42. “To take revenge halfheartedly is to court disaster; either condemn or crown your hatred.”

— Pierre Corneille

43. “Happiness seems made to be shared.”

— Pierre Corneille

44. “The fire which seems extinguished often slumbers beneath the ashes.”

— Pierre Corneille

45. “Va, je ne te hais point.”

— Pierre Corneille

46. “I can be forced to live without happiness, but I will never consent to live without honor.”

— Pierre Corneille

47. “Among wellborn spirits courage does not depend on age.”

— Pierre Corneille

48. “Deceit is the game of petty spirits, and that is by nature a woman’s quality.”

— Pierre Corneille

49. “I don’t know how to defend myself: surprised innocence cannot imagine being under suspicion.”

— Pierre Corneille

50. “Rome, if you do not wish me to betray you, make enemies that I can hate!”

— Pierre Corneille