Jean Racine Quotations

There are no secrets that time does not reveal.

A tragedy need not have blood and death; it's enough that it all be filled with that majestic sadness that is the pleasure of tragedy.

A noble heart cannot suspect in others the pettiness and malice that it has never felt.

I embrace my rival, but only to strangle him.

Hell, covering all with its gloomy vapors, has cast shadows on even the holiest eyes.

The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love.

On the throne, one has many worries; and remorse is the one that weighs the least.

Is a faith without action a sincere faith?

The principal rule of art is to please and to move. All the other rules were created to achieve this first one.

There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance.

In fine, nothing is said now that has not been said before.

Love is not a fire to be shut up in a soul. Everything betrays us: voice, silence, eyes; half-covered fires burn all the brighter.

I have everything, yet have nothing; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.

I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man do I deem a matter of indifference to me.

Thank the Gods! My misery exceeds all my hopes!

The glory of my name increases my shame. Less known by mortals, I could better escape their eyes.

How good is God! How sweet his yoke!

I know the disposition of women: when you will, they won't; when you won't, they set their hearts upon you of their own inclination.

According as the man is, so must you humour him.

It is a maxim of old that among themselves all things are common to friends.

Do not they bring it to pass by knowing that they know nothing at all?

If I could believe that this was said sincerely, I could put up with anything.

Many a time a man cannot be such as he would be, if circumstances do not admit of it.

My death, taking the light from my eyes, gives back to the day the purity which they soiled.

Nothing is so difficult but that it may be found out by seeking.

But without money honor is nothing but a malady

He who has far to ride spares his horse.

Ainsi que la vertu, le crime a ses degre s. Crime, like virtue, has its degrees.

Behind a veil, unseen yet present, I was the forceful soul that moved this mighty body.

Crime like virtue has its degrees; and timid innocence was never known to blossom suddenly into extreme license.

To repair the irreparable ravages of time.

Can a faith that does nothing be called sincere?

What does it matter if, by chance, a little vile blood be spilled?

When will the veil be lifted that casts so black a night over the universe? God of Israel, lift at last the gloom: For how long will you be hidden?

And do you count for nothing God who fights for us?

Sir, that much prudence calls for too much worry; I cannot foresee misfortunes so far away.

Have there ever been more submissive slaves? Adoring, even in their irons, the God who punishes them.

Ah, why can't I know if I love, or if I hate?

Henceforth the majesty of God revere;Fear Him, and you have nothing else to fear.

Les te moins sont fort chers, et n'en a pas qui veut. Witnesses are expensive and not everyone can afford them.

He who laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday.

Pain is unjust, and all the arguments That cannot soothe it only rouse suspicion.

The face of tyranny Is always mild at first.

There may be guilt when there is too much virtue.

Vice, like virtue, Grows in small steps, and no true innocence Can ever fall at once to deepest guilt.

She wavers, she hesitates: in a word, she is a woman.

Small crimes always precedes great ones.

It's no longer a warmth hidden in my veins: it's Venus entire and whole fastening on her prey.

My only hope lies in my despair.

The crime of a mother is a heavy burden.

The feeling of mistrust is always the last which a great mind acquires.

Disagreeable suspicions are usually the fruits of a second marriage.

I can hear those glances that you think are silent.

You who love wild passions, flee the holy austerity of my pleasures. All here breathes of God, peace and truth.

He who bridles the fury of the billows knows also to put a stop to the secret plans of the wicked. Submitting with respect to His holy will, I fear God, and have no other fear.

The day is not purer than the depths of my heart.

He who ruleth the raging of the sea, knows also how to check the designs of the ungodly. I submit myself with reverence to His Holy Will. O Abner, I fear my God, and I fear none but Him.

By dying I wanted to maintain my honor, and hide a flame so black from the daylight!

Small crimes always precede great ones. Never have we seen timid innocence pass suddenly to extreme licentiousness.

Felicity is in possession, happiness in anticipation.

Some smaller crimes always precede the great crimes.

All is asleep: the army, the wind, and Neptune.

The part I remember best is the beginning.

Do you think you can be righteous and holy with impunity?

Sun, I come to see you for the last time.

When I'm carried away, isn't it clear that my heart contradicts my mouth?

Hippolytus can feel, and feels nothing for me!

Me, rule? Me, place the State under my law, when my feeble reason no longer rules even myself!

Too much virtue can be criminal.

Without money honor is merely a disease.

Honor, without money, is a mere malady.

He who will travel far spares his steed.

I have pushed virtue to outright brutality.

Justice in the extreme is often unjust.

A single word often betrays a great design.

I have loved him too much not to hate

Now my innocence begins to weigh me down.

A benefit cited by way of reproach is equivalent to an injury.

I loved you when you were unfaithful; what would I have done if you were true?

I felt for my crime a just terror; I looked on my life with hate, and my passion with horror.

How admirable and beautiful is the simplicity of the Evangelists! They never speak injuriously of the enemies of Jesus Christ, of His judges, nor of His executioners. They report the facts without a single reflection. They comment neither on their Master's mildness when He was smitten, nor on His constancy in the hour of His ignominious death, which they thus describe: "And they crucified Jesus.

You feign guilt in order to justify yourself.

Small crimes always precede great crimes. Whoever has been able to transgress the limits set by law may afterwards violate the most sacred rights; crime, like virtue, has its degrees, and never have we seen timid innocence pass suddenly to extreme licentiousness.

Often it is fatal to live too long.

To save our imperiled honor everything must be sacrificed, even virtue.

Wrinkles on the brow are the imprints of exploits.

Innocence has nothing to dread.

The faith that acts not, is it truly faith?

Flight is lawful, when one flies from tyrants.

Great crimes come never singly; they are linked To sins that went before.

Crime, like virtue, has its degrees.

None love, but they who wish to love.

And forever goodbye! Forever! Oh, Sir, can you imagine how dreadful this cruel word sounds when one loves?

I will die if I lose you, but I will die if I wait longer.

Love is not dumb. The heart speaks many ways.

The heart that can no longer love passionately must with fury hate.

The joys of the evil flow away like a torrent.

Extreme justice is often injustice.