Ninon de L'Enclos
French author, courtesan, freethinker, and patron of the arts
Anne "Ninon" de l'Enclose (10 November 1620 – 17 October 1705) was a French author, courtesan, and patron of the arts.
Sourced
edit- Que l'on était bien à plaindre quand on avait besoin du secours de la religion pour se conduire , et que c'était la marque d'un esprit bien borné, ou d'un cœur bien corrompu. [1]
- Translation ("A Lady", 1761): They are either to be pitied or condemned who are obliged to have recourse to religion for the conduct of their lives. 'Tis a sign they have either a narrow soul, or a corrupt heart.
- Translation (Anon., 1904). Those who need religion to help them to behave as they should, are much to be pitied. It is a sure sign of a limited intellect or of a corrupt heart.
- Le beau billet qu'a La Châtre!
- Translation (Harbottle and Dalbiac, 1901). What a fine position for La Châtre!
- Voltaire, Lettre à la Comtesse de Lutzelbourg, 14 September 1753
Attributed
edit- That which is striking and beautiful is not always good; but that which is good is always beautiful.
- Attributed in Lewis Copeland, Best Quotations for All Occasions (1965), p. 19
External links
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- Works by Ninon de l'Enclos at Project Gutenberg
- Thomas Benfield Harbottle; Philip Hugh Dalbiac, Dictionary of Quotations: French and Italian (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd.; New York: The Macmillan Co., 1901), p. 121