86 quotes
Sir, what does it matter whom I serve, so long as I am right?
Le Menteur (The Liar) (1643)
By speaking of our misfortunes we often relieve them.
Polyeucte (1642)
As our self-interests differ, so do our feelings.
La Mort de Pompée (The Death of Pompey) (1642)
I agree to, or rather aspire to, my doom.
Polyeucte (1642)
Reason and love are sworn enemies.
Happiness seems made to be shared.
If you betray me, can I take a better revenge
Than to love the person you hate?
Tite et Bérénice (Titus and Berenice) (1670)
A service beyond all recompense
Weighs so heavy that it almost gives offense.
We never taste a perfect joy;
Our happiest successes are mixed with sadness.
Le Cid (1636)
Death was to be my glory, but destiny has refused it.
La Mort de Pompée (The Death of Pompey) (1642)
My reason, it’s true, controls my feelings,
But whatever its authority,
It doesn’t rule them so much as tyrannize them.
Polyeucte (1642)
They were more than kings, now they are less than slaves.
Sertorius (1662)
Oh! how many actions, how many fabulous exploits
Remain without glory in the midst of the night.
Le Cid (1636)
An example is often a deceptive mirror,
And the order of destiny, so troubling to our thoughts,
Is not always found written in things past.
Cinna (1641)
A liar is always lavish of oaths.
Le Menteur (The Liar) (1643)
To myself alone do I owe my fame.
Love is a tyrant, sparing none.
Le Cid (1636)
I would not like a king who could obey.
Le Menteur (The Liar) (1643)
He who pardons easily invites offense.
Cinna (1641)
Flee an enemy who knows your weakness.
Polyeucte (1642)