Moliere quotes:

All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.

A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation.

The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.

Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.

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

One ought to look a good deal at oneself before thinking of condemning others.

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.

Love is often the fruit of marriage.

No matter what Aristotle and the Philosophers say, nothing is equal to tobacco; it's the passion of the well-bred, and he who lives without tobacco lives a life not worth living.

Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.

A lover tries to stand in well with the pet dog of the house.

I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.

Reason is not what decides love.

It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.

I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue.

There's nothing quite like tobacco: it's the passion of decent folk, and whoever lives without tobacco doesn't deserve to live.

As the purpose of comedy is to correct the vices of men, I see no reason why anyone should be exempt.

I live on good soup, not on fine words.

I have the fault of being a little more sincere than is proper.

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

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

People don't mind being mean; but they never want to be ridiculous.

Two wives? That exceeds the custom.

Long is the road from conception to completion.

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

Books and marriage go ill together.

I want to be distinguished from the rest; to tell the truth, a friend to all mankind is not a friend for me.

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

We always speak well when we manage to be understood.

We die only once, and for such a long time.

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

[Dom Juan] believes neither in Heaven, nor the saints, nor God, nor the Werewolf.

How easy love makes fools of us.

I assure you, an educated fool is more foolish than an uneducated one.

It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh.

The envious will die, but envy never.

My fair one, let us swear an eternal friendship.

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

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

The maturing process of becoming a writer is akin to that of a harlot. First you do it for love, then for a few friends, and finally only for money.

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

If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh useless.

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

Birth is nothing where virtue is not

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.

It is good food and not fine words that keeps me alive.

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

Grammar, which can govern even Kings.

The great ambition of women is to inspire love.

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

To inspire love is a woman's greatest ambition, believe me. It's the one thing woman care about and there's no woman so proud that she does not rejoice at heart in her conquests.

To find yourself jilted is a blow to your pride. Do your best to forget it and if you don't succeed, at least pretend to.

I have the knack of easing scruples.

Frankly, it's good enough to lock up in a drawer.

The more powerful the obstacle, the more glory we have in overcoming it; and the difficulties with which we are met are the maids of honor which set off virtue.

Men often marry in hasty recklessness and repent afterward all their lives.

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

Cultivated people should be superior to any consideration so sordid as a mercenary interest.

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.

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

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

Music and dance are all you need.

Tobacco is the passion of honest men and he who lives without tobacco is not worthy of living.

Of all the noises known to man, opera is the most expensive.

There are pretenders to piety as well as to courage.

Esteem must be founded on preference: to hold everyone in high esteem is to esteem nothing.

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

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

The more we love our friends, the less we flatter them; it is by excusing nothing that pure love shows itself.

Grammar, which knows how to control even kings

The difference between moral dilemmas and ethical ones, philosophers say, is that in moral issues the choice is between right and wrong. In ethics, the choice is between two rights

Debts are nowadays like children begot with pleasure, but brought forth in pain

We ought to punish pitilessly that shameful pretence of friendly intercourse. I like a man to be a man, and to show on all occasions the bottom of his heart in his discourse. Let that be the thing to speak, and never let our feelings be beneath vain compliments

Grammar, which knows how to control even kings.

I become quite melancholy and deeply grieved to see men behave to each other as they do. Everywhere I find nothing but base flattery, injustice , self-interest, deceit and roguery. I cannot bear it any longer; I'm furious; and my intention is to break with all mankind.

You may plainly perceive the traitor through his mask; he is well-known everywhere in his true colors; his rolling eyes and his honeyed tones impose only on those who do not know him.

If perchance a friend should betray you; if he forms a subtle plot to get hold of what is yours; if people should try to spread evil reports about you, would you tamely submit to all this without flying into a rage?

Solitude terrifies the soul at twenty.

My hate is general, I detest all men;Some because they are wicked and do evil,Others because they tolerate the wicked,Refusing them the active vigorous scornWhich vice should stimulate in virtuous minds.

A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool.

Don't appear so scholarly, pray. Humanize your talk, and speak to be understood.

Perfect reason flees all extremity, and leads one to be wise with sobriety.

Perfect good sense shuns all extremity, content to couple wisdom with sobriety.

No reason makes it right To shun accepted ways from stubborn spite; And we may better join the foolish crowd Than cling to wisdom, lonely though unbowed.

The impromptu reply is precisely the touchstone of the man of wit.

If you make yourself understood, you're always speaking well.

Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.

unbroken happiness is a bore: it should have ups and downs.

Then worms shall try That long preserved virginity, And your quaint honor turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust. The grave's a fine and private place But none, I think, do there embrace.

It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I'm right.

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

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

It's true Heaven forbids some pleasures, but a compromise can usually be found.

People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything.

...all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill in dancing.

A good husband be the best sort of plaster for to cure a young woman's ailments.

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

A woman always has her revenge ready.

According to the saying of an ancient philosopher, one should eat to live, and not live to eat

Ah! devout though I may be, I am no less a man!

Ah, there are no children nowadays.

Ah, there are no longer any children!

All extremes does perfect reason flee, And wishes to be wise quite soberly.

All is wholesome in the absence of excess.

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

All the power is with the sex that wears the beard.

All the satires of the stage should be viewed without discomfort. They are public mirrors, where we are never to admit that we seeourselves; one admits to a fault when one is scandalized by its censure.

All which is not prose is verse; and all which is not verse is prose.

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

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

Anyone may be an honorable man, and yet write verse badly.

Assassination's the fastest way.

Beauty without intelligence is like a hook without bait.

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, The Misanthrope

Better to be married than dead!

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

Birth means nothing where there is no virtue.

But it is not reason that governs love.

Consistency is only suitable for ridicule.

Cover that bosom that I must not see: souls are wounded by such things.