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Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French playwright, arms dealer, inventor, and social satirist.
Quotes
Le Barbier de Séville (1773)
- Ce qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être dit, on le chante.
- That which is not worth speaking they sing.
- Act I, scene i. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 712-13.
- Que les gens d'esprit sont bêtes.
- What silly people wits are!
- Act I, scene i. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 883-86.
- Aujourd'hui, ce qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être dit, on le chante.
- Nowadays what isn't worth saying is sung.
- Act I, scene ii
- Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d'être obligé d'en pleurer.
- I hasten to laugh at everything, for fear of being obliged to weep.
- Act I, scene ii
- Variant translations:
- I quickly laugh at everything, for fear of having to cry.
- I force myself to laugh at everything, for fear of having to cry.
- Médiocre et rampant, et l'on arrive à tout.
- Be commonplace and creeping, and you attain all things.
- Act III, scene vii. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 759-62.
- Calomniez, calomniez; il en reste toujours quelque chose.
- Calumniate, calumniate; there will always be something which sticks.
- Act III, scene xiii
- Il n'est pas nécessaire de tenir les choses pour en raisonner.
- It is not necessary to retain facts that we may reason concerning them.
- Act V, scene iv. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 658-59.
The Marriage of Figaro (1778)
- De toutes les choses sérieuses, le mariage étant la plus bouffonne.
- Of all serious things, marriage is the most ludicrous.
- Act I, scene ix
- Boire sans soif et faire l'amour en tout temps, madame, il n'y a que ça qui nous distingue des autres bêtes.
- Drinking when not thirsty and making love all the time, madam, is all that distinguishes us from other animals.
- Act II, scene xxi
- Parce que vous êtes un grand seigneur, vous vous croyez un grand génie! … vous vous êtes donné la peine de naître, et rien de plus. Du reste homme assez ordinaire!
- Because you are a great lord, you believe that you are a great genius! You took the trouble to be born, no more. You remain an ordinary enough man!
- Act II, scene ii
- Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n'est point d'éloge flatteur; et qu'il n'y a que les petits hommes qui redoutent les petits écrits.
- If censorship reigns, there cannot be sincere flattery, and none but little men are afraid of little writings.
- Act V, scene iii
- Tout finit par des chansons.
- Everything ends with songs.
- Mariage de Figaro, End. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 732-33.
External links
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