Pierre Corneille Quotes

62 Sourced Quotes

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.

Pierre Corneille
Do your duty, and leave the rest to heaven.

Pierre Corneille
They who overcome their desires once can overcome them always.

Pierre Corneille
Sir, what does it matter whom I serve, so long as I am right?

Pierre Corneille
All evils are equal when they are extreme.

Pierre Corneille
Clemency is the noblest trait
Which can reveal a true monarch to the world.

Pierre Corneille
Desire increases when fulfillment is postponed.

Pierre Corneille
When there is no peril in the fight, there is no glory in the triumph.

Pierre Corneille
I can be forced to live without happiness,
But I will never consent to live without honor.

Pierre Corneille
The fate of States decides theirs:
Clauses of treaties determine their affections.

Pierre Corneille
I don't know how to defend myself: surprised innocence
Cannot imagine being under suspicion.

Pierre Corneille
To take revenge halfheartedly is to court disaster:
Either condemn or crown your hatred.

Pierre Corneille
The universe has no prince or king
That it [Rome] would consider equal to its humblest citizen.

Pierre Corneille
One is often guilty by being too just.

Pierre Corneille
My reason, it's true, controls my feelings,
But whatever its authority,
It doesn't rule them so much as tyrannize them.

Pierre Corneille
He who can live in infamy is unworthy of life.

Pierre Corneille
By speaking of our misfortunes we often relieve them.

Pierre Corneille
True, I am young, but for souls nobly born
Valor doesn't await the passing of years.

Pierre Corneille
It is hard to hate what one has loved,
And a half-extinguished fire is soon relit.

Pierre Corneille
A service beyond all recompense
Weighs so heavy that it almost gives offense.

Pierre Corneille