Jean de La Fontaine

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



 * 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

 * 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".


 * 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".


 * 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.


 * 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

 * Les délicats sont malheureux: Rien ne saurait les satisfaire.
 * The fastidious are unfortunate; nothing satisfies them.
 * Book II (1668), fable 1.


 * 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

 * [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

 * 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).


 * ... ’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.).

Book V

 * 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-

 * 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

 * We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all.
 * Jean de La Bruyère, in Du Coeur