187 Quotes by Jean de La Fontaine

Everyone calls himself a friend, but only a fool relies on it: nothing is commoner than the name, nothing rarer than the thing.

Everyone believes very easily whatever he fears or desires.

Nothing is as dangerous as an ignorant friend; a wise enemy is to be preferred.

Sadness flies away on the wings of time.

Nothing weighs on us so heavily as a secret.

Apprenez que tout flatteurVit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute :Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute.Flatterers thrive on fools' credulity.The lesson's worth a cheese, don't you agree?

A foolish friend may cause more woeThan could, indeed, the wisest foe.

I don't believe that Nature's powersHave tied her hands or pinioned ours,By marking on the heavenly vaultOur fate without mistake or fault.That fate depends on conjunctionsOf places, persons, times, and tracks,And not on the functionsOf more or less of quacks.

Todos los cerebros del mundo son impotentes contra cualquier estupidez que esté de moda.