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The word of kings is but an empty shadow.

— Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon

La parole des rois n'est plus qu'une ombre vaine.

Original text (French)

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Xerxès, Act I, Sc. VIII (Amestris), as reported by Harbottle (1904), p. 112
Source quality: Secondhand citation Quoted from another book or article rather than from the original.

More by Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon

Crime is aye crime, and beauty ne'er can be
A veil to cover its deformity.

I know the fury of your jealous suspicions,
But I have too much virtue to fear my husband.

The suffering heart is surest oracle.

My pen was never dipped in gall.

Discours de réception à l’Académie Française (1731)

One is not criminal because ambitious.

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At the court of a tyrant, whether usurped or legitimate, the least suspicion always amounts to crime, and to be suspected is to be proscribed.

La crainte fit les dieux, l'audace a fait les rois.

As all the world the hero's exploits sings,
So should good deeds the glory be of kings.

'Tis crime that must be ended, and not vengeance.

By innocence imposture's aye confounded.

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Attribution

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