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Better to suffer than to die: that is mankind's motto.

— Jean de La Fontaine Fables (1668)

Plutôt souffrir que mourir,
C'est la devise des hommes.

Original text (French)

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Variants

Rather suffer than die is man's motto.

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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.