Original text (French)
Honor is like an island, rugged and without a beach; once we have left it, we can never return.
Hasten slowly, and without losing heart,
Put your work twenty times upon the anvil.
Happy the poet who with ease can steer
From grave to gay, from lively to severe.
Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.
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A generation which ignores history has no past —and no future.
Nothing is there to come, and nothing past,
But an eternal now does always last.
Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.