Pierre Corneille

“Among wellborn spirits courage does not depend on age.”

“We never enjoy perfect happiness; our most fortunate successes are mingled with sadness; some anxieties always perplex the reality of our satisfaction.”

“To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory.”

“I can be forced to live without happiness, but I will never consent to live without honor.”

“Master of the universe but not of myself, I am the only rebel against my absolute power.”

“He who plays advisor is no longer ambassador.”

“Force is legitimate where gentleness avails not.”

“True, I am young, but for souls nobly born valor doesn't await the passing of years.”

“Brave men are brave from the very first.”

“This dark brightness that falls from the stars.”

“One often calms one's grief by recounting it.”

“Clemency is the noblest trait which can reveal a true monarch to the world.”

“A true king is neither husband nor father; he considers his throne and nothing else.”

“Deceit is the game of petty spirits, and that is by nature a woman's quality.”

“An example is often a deceptive mirror, and the order of destiny, so troubling to our thoughts, is not always found written in things past.”

“Ambition aspires to descend.”

“After having won a scepter, few are so generous as to disdain the pleasures of ruling.”

“I agree to, or rather aspire to, my doom.”

“Flee an enemy who knows your weakness.”

“He who forgives readily only invites offense.”