Jean de La Fontaine Quotes

43 Sourced Quotes

A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.

Jean de La Fontaine
Everyone calls himself a friend, but only a fool relies on it; nothing is commoner than the name, nothing rarer than the thing.

Jean de La Fontaine
Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.

Jean de La Fontaine
Our destiny is frequently met in the very paths we take to avoid it.

Jean de La Fontaine
A certain fox, it is said, wanted to become a wolf. Ah! who can say why no wolf has ever craved the life of a sheep?

Jean de La Fontaine
Be advised that all flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them.

Jean de La Fontaine
There's nothing sweeter than a real friend: Not only is he prompt to lend— An angler delicate, he fishes The very deepest of your wishes, And spares your modesty the task His friendly aid to ask. A dream, a shadow, wakes his fear, When pointing at the object dear.

Jean de La Fontaine
"They are too green", he said, "and only good for fools".

Jean de La Fontaine
There's nothing useless to a man of sense.

Jean de La Fontaine
Folly was condemned to serve as a guide to Love whom she had blinded.

Jean de La Fontaine
He knows the universe, and himself he does not know.

Jean de La Fontaine
It is difficult for a woman to keep a secret: and I know more than one man who is a woman.

Jean de La Fontaine
Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go.

Jean de La Fontaine
History some truths contains, which well may serve
For lessons. In my work you will observe
Every thing speaks — yea e'en the very fish —
And what they say, to every man a dish
Serves up; and I of animals make choice
That men may get instruction from their voice.

Jean de La Fontaine
Nothing weighs so heavy as a secret; women find it difficult to carry one far. And I know a lot of men who are just like women about this.

Jean de La Fontaine
Fond youth flatters itself that all must heed its prayer.

Jean de La Fontaine
Patience and time do more than strength or passion.

Jean de La Fontaine
Never sell the bear's skin before one has killed the beast.

Jean de La Fontaine
For animals I choose To proffer lessons that we all might use.

Jean de La Fontaine
O tyrant love, when held by you,
We may to prudence bid adieu.
In French: Amour! Amour! quand tu nous tiens On peut bien dire, Adieu, prudence.

Jean de La Fontaine
By time and toil we sever What strength and rage could never.

Jean de La Fontaine
Lies and literature have always been friends.
In French: Le mensonge et les vers de tout temps sont amis.

Jean de La Fontaine
One should oblige everyone to the extent of one's ability. One often needs someone smaller than oneself.

Jean de La Fontaine
Let ignorance talk as it will, learning has its value.

Jean de La Fontaine
Beware, as long as you live, of judging people by appearances.
In French: Garde-toi, tant que tu vivras, De juger des gens sur la mine.

Jean de La Fontaine
Let fools the studious despise,
There's nothing lost by being wise.

Jean de La Fontaine
Nothing more dangerous than a friend without discretion; even a prudent enemy is preferable.

Jean de La Fontaine
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.

Jean de La Fontaine
'Tis thus we heed no instincts but our own;
Believe no evil till the evil's done.

Jean de La Fontaine
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.

Jean de La Fontaine