Pierre Beaumarchais

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French playwright, arms dealer, inventor, and social satirist.

Le Barbier de Séville (1773)

 * Ce qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être dit, on le chante.
 * That which is not worth speaking they sing.
 * Act I, scene i. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 712-13.


 * Que les gens d'esprit sont bêtes.
 * What silly people wits are!
 * Act I, scene i. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 883-86.


 * Aujourd'hui, ce qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être dit, on le chante.
 * Nowadays what isn't worth saying is sung.
 * Act I, scene ii


 * Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d'être obligé d'en pleurer.
 * I hasten to laugh at everything, for fear of being obliged to weep.
 * Act I, scene ii
 * Variant translations:
 * I quickly laugh at everything, for fear of having to cry.
 * I force myself to laugh at everything, for fear of having to cry.


 * Médiocre et rampant, et l'on arrive à tout.
 * Be commonplace and creeping, and you attain all things.
 * Act III, scene vii. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 759-62.


 * Calomniez, calomniez; il en reste toujours quelque chose.
 * Calumniate, calumniate; there will always be something which sticks.
 * Act III, scene xiii


 * Il n'est pas nécessaire de tenir les choses pour en raisonner.
 * It is not necessary to retain facts that we may reason concerning them.
 * Act V, scene iv. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 658-59.

The Marriage of Figaro (1778)

 * De toutes les choses sérieuses, le mariage étant la plus bouffonne.
 * Of all serious things, marriage is the most ludicrous.
 * Act I, scene ix


 * Boire sans soif et faire l'amour en tout temps, madame, il n'y a que ça qui nous distingue des autres bêtes.
 * Drinking when not thirsty and making love all the time, madam, is all that distinguishes us from other animals.
 * Act II, scene xxi


 * Parce que vous êtes un grand seigneur, vous vous croyez un grand génie! … vous vous êtes donné la peine de naître, et rien de plus. Du reste homme assez ordinaire!
 * Because you are a great lord, you believe that you are a great genius! You took the trouble to be born, no more.  You remain an ordinary enough man!
 * Act II, scene ii


 * Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n'est point d'éloge flatteur; et qu'il n'y a que les petits hommes qui redoutent les petits écrits.
 * If censorship reigns, there cannot be sincere flattery, and none but little men are afraid of little writings.
 * Act V, scene iii


 * Tout finit par des chansons.
 * Everything ends with songs.
 * Mariage de Figaro, End. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 732-33.