Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontainewas the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional languages...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth8 July 1621
CountryFrance
religious devil argument
Religious contention is the devil's harvest.
secret
Nothing weighs more than a secret.
strength patience time
By time and toil we sever What strength and rage could never.
succeed violence gentleness
Gentleness succeeds better than violence.
greatness wealth prosperity
Neither wealth or greatness render us happy.
sticks made should
One should stick to the sort of thing for which one was made; I tried to be an herbalist, Whereas I should keep to the butchers trade.
inferiority needs inferiors
One often has need of one, inferior to himself.
patience fonts rage
Patience et longueur de temps Font plus que force ni que rage. Patience and longevity Are worth more than force and rage.
looks ends ought
In everything we ought to look at the end.
cost flattery listeners
Learn that every flatterer Lives at the flattered listeners cost.
hares caught caution
A hare is not caught with a drum.
human-nature expenses flatterer
Be advised that all flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them.
different comedy hundred
Une ample Come die a' cent actes divers, Et dont la sce' ne est l'Univers. A grand comedy in one hundred different acts, On the stage of the universe.
perseverance persistence brutes
Patience and perseverance at lengthAccomplish more than anger or brute strength.