An accountant was the person wanted, but a dancer got the place.
Il fallait un calculateur, ce fut un danseur qui l'obtint.
Original text (French)
More quotes by Pierre Beaumarchais
I hasten to laugh at everything, for fear of being obliged to weep.
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Attribution
Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Pierre Beaumarchais (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.