Jean racine quotes

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.

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

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

My only hope lies in my despair.

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

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

Extreme justice is often injustice.

Disagreeable suspicions are usually the fruits of a second marriage.

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

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

The joys of the evil flow away like a torrent.

To repair the irreparable ravages of time.

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

The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love.

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

Justice in the extreme is often unjust.

Innocence has nothing to dread.

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

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

The crime of a mother is a heavy burden.

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

Is a faith without action a sincere faith?

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

Too much virtue can be criminal.

A single word often betrays a great design.

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.

Honor, without money, is a mere malady.

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?

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

Can a faith that does nothing be called sincere?

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

Hippolytus can feel, and feels nothing for me!

Wrinkles on the brow are the imprints of exploits.

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

The part I remember best is the beginning.

Often it is fatal to live too long.

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

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.

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

You feign guilt in order to justify yourself.

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

There may be guilt when there is too much virtue.

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

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

Love is not dumb. The heart speaks many ways.

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

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

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

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

Without money honor is merely a disease.

She wavers, she hesitates; in one word — she is a woman.

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

This innocence begins to weigh me down.

There are no secrets that time does not reveal.

Some smaller crimes always precede the great crimes.

I embrace my rival, but only to strangle him.

Flight is lawful, when one flies from tyrants.

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

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

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.

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

Thank the Gods! My misery exceeds all my hopes!

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

Felicity is in possession, happiness in anticipation.

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

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

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

Small crimes always precedes great ones.

None love, but they who wish to love.

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

He who will travel far spares his steed.

The face of tyranny Is always mild at first.

He who laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday.

How good is God! How sweet his yoke!

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

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

I have loved him too much not to hate

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

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

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

I have pushed virtue to outright brutality.

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.

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

I can hear those glances that you think are silent.

Crime, like virtue, has its degrees.

He who has far to ride spares his horse.

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

The faith that acts not, is it truly faith?

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

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