Jean de La Fontaine
French poet, fabulist and writer (1621–1695)
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Jean de La Fontaine (July 8 1621 – April 13 1695) is a famous French fabulist and the most widely read French poet of the 17th century.
Quotes
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- People must help one another; it is nature's law.
- "L'Ane et le Chien", as quoted in On a Darkling Plain (1995) by Richard Lee Byers, p. 94.
- Everyone calls himself a friend, but only a fool relies on it; nothing is commoner than the name, nothing rarer than the thing.
- "Parole de Socrate", as quoted in The Wordsworth Book of Humorous Quotations (1998), edited by C. Robertson
- Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire.
- As quoted in Subcontact : Slap the Face of Fear and Wake Up Your Subconscious (2001) by Dian Benson, p. 149
- Variant: Everyone believes very easily whatever he fears or desires.
- To live lightheartedly but not recklessly; to be gay without being boisterous; to be courageous without being bold; to show trust and cheerful resignation without fatalism — this is the art of living.
- As quoted in From Grandmother with Love (2005) by Becky Kelly and Patrick Regan, p. 53.
- We then saw what St. Jerome said of those who serve God and those who serve the world: "Each to the other we seem insane": Invicem insanire videmur. There is a never-ending duel between the two.
- Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de Port-Royal (1752), as cited by M. A. Screech in Laughter at the Foot of the Cross (1997), p. 69
Book I
edit- L'histoire, encore que mensongère,
Contient des vérités qui servent de leçons.
Tout parle en mon ouvrage, et même les poissons.
Ce qu'ils disent s'adresse à tout tant que nous sommes;
Je me sers d'animaux pour instruire les hommes.- History some truths contains, which well may serve
For lessons. In my work you will observe
Ev'ry thing speaks — yea e'en the very fish —
And what they say, to ev'ry man a dish
Serves up; and I of animals make choice
That men may get instruction from their voice. - Book I (1668), Dedication "To Monseigneur the Dauphin".
- History some truths contains, which well may serve
- Je vais t'entretenir de moindres aventures,
Te tracer en ces vers de légères peintures;
Et si de t'agréer je n'emporte le prix,
J'aurai du moins d'honneur de l'avoir entrepris.- For thee I'll trace in verses which I write
Some sketches, paintings which indeed are light,
And if the prize of pleasing thee I do not bear away,
At least, the honour I shall have of having tried I say. - Book I (1668), Dedication "To Monseigneur the Dauphin".
- For thee I'll trace in verses which I write
- La fourmi n'est pas prêteuse;
C'est là son moindre défaut.- The ant is no lender; that is the least of her faults.
- Book I (1668), fable 1.
- Apprenez que tout flatteur
Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute.- Be advised that all flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them.
- Book I (1668), fable 2. Variant translations: Learn now that every flatterer lives at the cost of those who give him credit.
In exchange for your cheese I will give you a piece of advice for the future — Do not trust flatterers.
Every flatterer lives at the expense of him who listens to him.
- Nous n'écoutons d'instincts que ceux qui sont les nôtres,
Et ne croyons le mal que quand il est venu.- 'Tis thus we heed no instincts but our own;
Believe no evil till the evil's done. - Book I (1668), fable 8.
- 'Tis thus we heed no instincts but our own;
- La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure.
- The opinion of the strongest is always the best.
- Variant: The argument of the strongest is always the best.
- Book I (1668), fable 10 (The Wolf and the Lamb).
- Plutôt souffrir que mourir,
C'est la devise des hommes.- Better to suffer than to die: that is mankind's motto.
- Variant: Rather suffer than die is man's motto.
- Book I (1668), fable 16.
- A l'oeuvre on connaît l'artisan.
- By the work one knows the workman.
- Book I (1668), fable 21 (The Hornets And The Bees)
- Variant: The artist by his work is known.
- Je plie, et ne romps pas.
- I bend but do not break.
- Book I (1668), fable 22.
Book II
edit- Les délicats sont malheureux:
Rien ne saurait les satisfaire.- The fastidious are unfortunate; nothing satisfies them.
- Book II (1668), fable 1.
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- Il faut, autant qu'on peut, obliger tout le monde:
On a souvent besoin d'un plus petit que soi.- One should oblige everyone to the extent of one's ability. One often needs someone smaller than oneself.
- Variant: One often has need of one inferior to himself.
- Book II (1668), fable 11.
- Patience et longueur de temps
Font plus que force ni que rage.- Patience and time do more than strength or passion.
- Book II (1668), fable 11.
- C'est double plaisir de tromper le trompeur.
- It is a double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
- Book II (1668), fable 15 (The Cock and the Fox).
- Variant: It is twice the pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
Book III
edit- [On] est bien fou de cerveau
Qui prétend contenter tout le monde et son père.- It is impossible to please all the world and one's father.
- Book III (1668), fable 1.
- En toute chose il faut considérer la fin.
- In everything one must consider the end.
- Book III (1668), fable 5 (The Fox and the Goat).
Book IV
edit- Amour est un étrange maître!
Heureux qui peut ne le connaître
Que par récit, lui ni ses coups!- Love is a cruel conqueror.
Happy is he who knows him through stories
And not by his blows! - Book IV (1668), fable 1 (Le lion amoureux).
- Love is a cruel conqueror.
- ... ’argent vient-il comme il s’en va ?
Je n’y touchois jamais. Dites-moy donc de grace,
Reprit l’autre, pourquoy vous vous affligez tant,
Puiſque vous ne touchiez jamais à cet argent :
Mettez une pierre à la place,
Elle vous vaudra tout autant.- ... a wise man knows
Gold comes but slowly, quickly goes;
I never touched it." "Gracious me!"
Replied the other, "why, then, be
So wretched? for if you say true,
You never touched it, plain the case;
Put back that stone upon the place,
'Twill be the very same to you." - Book IV (1668), fable 20 (L’Avare qui a perdu ſon treſor.).
- ... a wise man knows
Book V
edit- Bref, la fortune a toujours tort.
- In short, luck's always to blame.
- Book V (1688), fable 11 (Luck and the Young Child)
- Il n'est rien d'inutile aux personnes de sens.
- There's nothing useless to a man of sense.
- Book V (1668), fable 19.
- Il ne faut jamais
Vendre la peau de l'ours qu'on ne l'ait mis par terre.- Never sell the bear's skin before one has killed the beast.
- Book V (1668), fable 20.
- De la peau du lion l'âne s'étant vêtu,
Était craint partout à la ronde.- Dressed in the lion's skin, the ass spread terror far and wide.
- Book V (1668), fable 21.
Book VI-
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- Garde-toi, tant que tu vivras,
De juger les gens sur la mine.- Beware, as long as you live, of judging people by appearances.
- Book VI (1668), fable 5.
- Rien ne sert de courir; il faut partir à point.
- To win a race, the swiftness of a dart availeth not without a timely start.
- Book VI (1668), fable 10.
- Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera.
- Help thyself and Heaven will help thee.
- Book VI (1668), fable 17.
- Sur les ailes du Temps la tristesse s'envole.
- On the wings of Time grief flies away.
- Variant: Sadness flies away on the wings of time.
- Book VI (1668), fable 21.
- The fly of the coach.
- Book VII (1678–1679), fable 9.
- L’enseigne fait la chalandise.
- The sign brings customers.
- Book VII (1678–1679), fable 16 (The Fortune-Tellers).
- Plus fait douceur que violence.
- Kindness effects more than severity.
- Book VI (1678-1679), fable 3.
- La mort ne surprend point le sage:
Il est toujours prêt à partir.- Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go.
- Book VIII (1678-1679), fable 1.
- Rien ne pèse tant qu'un secret.
- Nothing weighs on us so heavily as a secret.
- Book VIII (1678-1679), fable 6.
- Rien n'est si dangereux qu'un ignorant ami;
Mieux vaudrait un sage ennemi.- Nothing is as dangerous as an ignorant friend; a wise enemy is to be preferred.
- Variant: Nothing is more dangerous than a friend without discretion; even a prudent enemy is preferable.
- Book VIII (1678-1679), fable 10.
- On rencontre sa destinée
Souvent par des chemins qu’on prend pour l’éviter.- Our destiny is frequently met in the very paths we take to avoid it.
- Book VIII (1678–1679), fable 16 (The Horoscope)
- Variant: A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.
- Laissez dire les sots: le savoir a son prix.
- Let ignorance talk as it will, learning has its value.
- Book VIII (1678-1679), fable 19 (The Use of Knowledge).
- Les gens sans bruit sont dangereux.
- People who make no noise are dangerous.
- Book VIII (1678–1679), fable 23.
- L'homme est ainsi bâti: Quand un sujet l'enflamme
L'impossibilité disparaît à son âme.- Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.
- Book VIII (1678-1679), fable 25.
- Il connaît l’univers, et ne se connaît pas.
- He knows the universe, and himself he does not know.
- Book VIII (1678–1679), fable 26.
- Ventre affamé n'a point d'oreilles.
- A hungry stomach cannot hear.
- Book IX (1678–1679), fable 18.
- No path of flowers leads to glory.
- Book X, fable 14; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
- "They are too green", he said, "and only good for fools".
- The Fox and the Grapes, fable 11; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
Misattributed
edit- We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all.
- Jean de La Bruyère, in Du Coeur
