Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Moliere (French Playwright)

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622–73,) known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered the creator of modern French comedy.

Born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin in Paris, Molière declined to join his father’s carpet and upholstery business as a young man. He fled with an actress and her family’s wandering theater troupe. They toured all around the provinces with great success, but kept away from Paris; Molière had been previously imprisoned there for large debts for which he became responsible. When they did return to Paris eventually, Molière tried to win the king’s favor by presenting a tragedy, but Molière received bad reviews for his acting.

Molière found success only when he performed his short farce, Love Is the Doctor. King Louis XIV became a champion of Molière’s work, and even performed as a ballet dancer in one of them.

Molière’s popular plays include the original stage comedies The School for Wives (1662,) Don Juan (1665,) Tartuffe (1666,) The Misanthrope (1666,) The Miser (1668,) The Bourgeois Gentleman (1670,) and The Imaginary Invalid (1673.)

Molière’s works gained widespread success with the public, even if they were criticized by conservative reviewers, the Catholic church, and medical professionals. Other playwrights and theater troupes copied his theatrical style in France and England.

The French national theater, the Comédie-Française, has been popularly known as “La Maison de Molière” (The House of Molière.)

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Moliere

Of all follies there is none greater than wanting to make the world a better place.
—Moliere
Topics: Reform, Correction

The most agreeable recompense which we can receive for things which we have done is to see them known, to have them applauded with praises which honor us.
—Moliere
Topics: Praise

Nothing can be fairer or more noble than the holy fervor of true zeal.
—Moliere
Topics: Zeal

If you suppress grief too much, it can well redouble.
—Moliere
Topics: Courage, Grief

Virtue is the first title of nobility.
—Moliere
Topics: Titles

It is a fine seasoning for joy to think of those we love.
—Moliere
Topics: Joy

Birth is nothing where virtue is not.
—Moliere
Topics: Ancestry

We always speak well when we manage to be understood.
—Moliere
Topics: Communication

Every good act is charity. A man’s true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.
—Moliere
Topics: Charity

Frenchmen have an unlimited capacity for gallantry and indulge it on every occasion.
—Moliere
Topics: Nations, Nationality, Nation, Nationalism

The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.
—Moliere
Topics: Fortune, Fate

We often marry in despair, so that we repent of it all our life after.
—Moliere
Topics: Marriage

Love is often the fruit of marriage.
—Moliere
Topics: Marriage

There is no praise to beat the sort you can put in your pocket.
—Moliere
Topics: Praise

He must have killed a lot of men to have made so much money.
—Moliere
Topics: Riches, Wealth

Books and marriage go ill together.
—Moliere
Topics: Books, Reading

Gold makes the ugly beautiful.
—Moliere
Topics: Gold

The more we love our friends, the less we flatter them; it is by excusing nothing that pure love shows itself.
—Moliere
Topics: Flattery, Friendship, Candor

Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truths.
—Moliere
Topics: Doubt

A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant one.
—Moliere
Topics: Fools, Foolishness

The proof of true love is to be unsparing in criticism.
—Moliere
Topics: Romance

Everyone has a right to his own course of action.
—Moliere
Topics: Aptness, Appropriateness

It is the public scandal that offends; to sin in secret is no sin at all.
—Moliere
Topics: Shame

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

Unbroken happiness is a bore: It should have ups and downs.
—Moliere
Topics: Happiness

One ought to look a good deal at oneself before thinking of condemning others.
—Moliere
Topics: Hypocrisy, Critics, Thinking, Criticism

There is no rampart that will hold out against malice.
—Moliere
Topics: Hate

Grammar, which can govern even Kings.
—Moliere

One should eat to live, not live to eat.
—Moliere
Topics: Weight, Food, Eating, Diet, One liners

Without knowledge, life is not more than the shadow of death.
—Moliere
Topics: Knowledge

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