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

Il faut, autant qu'on peut, obliger tout le monde:
On a souvent besoin d'un plus petit que soi.

Original text (French)

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Variants

One often has need of one inferior to himself.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Jean de La Fontaine (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.