19 Quotes by Étienne de La Boétie

Soiés resolus de ne servir plus, et vous voilà libres.

They only seem tall because we're on our knees.

There can be no friendship where there is cruelty, where there is disloyalty, where there is injustice. And in places where the wicked gather there is conspiracy only, not companionship: these have no affection for one another; fear alone holds them together; they are not friends, they are merely accomplices.

Friendship is a sacred word, a holy thing; it is never developed except between persons of character, and never takes root except through mutual respect; it flourishes not so much by kindnesses as by sincerity. What makes one friend sure of another is the knowledge of his integrity: as guarantees he has his friend's fine nature, his honor, and his constancy.

Mais, ô bon Dieu ! que peut être cela ? comment dirons-nous que cela s’appelle ? quelle malheur est celui-là ? quel vice, ou plutôt quel malheureux vice ? Voir un nombre infini de personnes non pas obéir, mais servir […].

Do not imagine that there is any bird more easily caught by decoy, nor any fish sooner fixed on the hook by wormy bait, than are all of these poor fools neatly tricked into servitude by the slightest feather passed before their mouths.

Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.

Les théâtres, les jeux, les farces, les spectacles, les gladiateurs, les bêtes étranges, les médailles, les tableaux et autres telles drogueries, c’étaient aux peuples anciens les appâts de la servitude, le prix de leur liberté, les outils de la tyrannie.

C’est le peuple qui s’asservit, qui se coupe la gorge, qui, ayant le choix ou d’être serf ou d’être libre, quitte la franchise et prend le joug, qui consent à son mal, ou plutôt le pourchasse.