Alain-René Lesage

thumb|250px|The more I have to suffer, the more my character will grow. Alain-René Lesage (May 8, 1668 – November 17, 1747), also spelled Le Sage, was a French novelist and playwright. Quotes La Tontine (1709) 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. Gil Blas (1715-1735) It may be said that his wit shines at the expense of his memory. Book III, ch. 11. Compare: "The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts", Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Speech in Reply to Mr. Dundas, in Sheridaniana. A flatterer can risk everything with great personages. Book IV, ch. 7. Pride and conceit were the original sin of man. Book VII, ch. 3. I wish you all sorts of prosperity with a little more taste. Book VII, ch. 4. The pleasure of talking is the inextinguishable passion of a woman, coeval with the act of breathing. Book VII, ch. 7. Isocrates was in the right to insinuate, in his elegant Greek expression, that what is got over the Devil's back is spent under his belly. Book VIII, ch. 9. Compare: "What is got over the Devil's back is spent under the belly", François Rabelais, Works, Book V, ch. 11. Facts are stubborn things. Book X, ch. 1. Earlier written by Elliot, Essay on Field Husbandry, p. 35 (1747). Translated by Tobias George Smollett, Translation of Gil Blas, Book x, Chapter 1. Plain as a pike-staff. Book XII, ch. 7. Compare: "A flat case as plain as a pack-staff", Thomas Middleton, The Family of Love (1602-07), Act v, Scene 3. External links Alain+René+Le+Sage Alain-René Lesage Category:Novelists from France Category:Playwrights from France Category:1747 deaths