Jean de La Fontaine

“Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.”

“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.”

“Be advised that all flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them.”

“It is impossible to please all the world and one's father.”

“Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.”

“Never sell the bear's skin before one has killed the beast.”

“Better a living beggar than a buried emperor.”

“I bend and do not break.”

“Beware, so long as you live, of judging men by their outward appearance.”

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

“Everyone has his faults which he continually repeats: neither fear nor shame can cure them.”

“It is twice the pleasure to deceive the deceiver.”

“It is a double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.”

“Nothing is more dangerous than a friend without discretion; even a prudent enemy is preferable.”

“Dressed in the lion's skin, the ass spread terror far and wide.”

“Every flatterer lives at the expense of him who listens to him.”

“The fastidious are unfortunate; nothing satisfies them.”

“Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.”

“Sadness flies away on the wings of time.”

“Friendship is the shadow of the evening, which increases with the setting sun of life.”