Nicolas Boileau
Nicolas Boileau
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, often known simply as Boileau, was a French poet and critic...
friendship praise advise
Attach yourself to those who advise you rather than praise you.
ignorance science admire
Ignorance is always ready to admire itself. Procure yourself critical friends.
world can-not please
He [Moliere] pleases all the world, but can- not please himself.
time moments draws
Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me.
one-day theatre lasts
Let a single complete action, in one place and one day, keep the theatre packed to the last.
beauty beautiful truth
Nothing is really beautiful but truth, and truth alone is lovely.
exalted light rhyme treating whether
Whether one is treating a light or an exalted subject, let the sense and the rhyme always agree.