Alain-René Lesage

“A good doctor pursues his calling without any regard to a bad result. Otherwise, teaching in medical school might be called into question and where would we be then?”

“To forbid wine to a man of your type is the same as forbidding women to a man of a different sort.”

“In order to know the worth of a virtuous husband, is it not necessary for the wife to be dispirited herself? First, give her a young man of twenty, and not only will she be fine, she'll have a reasonable husband.”

“A smart daughter ought not to examine her future husband too closely. She ought to consider it a pleasure to find one agreeable to her father.”

“I don't know any more than you what the future will hold. But my point of view is different. You see despair and I see cause for hope. I read the future in a way that is more agreeable than you do.”

“The more I have to suffer, the more my character will grow.”

“It may be said that his wit shines at the expense of his memory.”

“A flatterer can risk everything with great personages.”

“Pride and conceit were the original sin of man.”

“I wish you all sorts of prosperity with a little more taste.”

“The pleasure of talking is the inextinguishable passion of a woman, coeval with the act of breathing.”

“Facts are stubborn things.”