Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon

thumb| Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (13 January 1674 – 17 June 1762) was a French poet and tragedian. He is sometimes known as Crébillon père or Crébillon le Tragique to distinguish him from his son Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (Crébillon the Gay). Quotes Le cœur des malheureux n'est qu'un trop sûr oracle. The suffering heart is surest oracle. Atrèe et Thyeste, Act V, Sc. I (Plisthène), as reported by Harbottle (1904), p. 124 II faut un terms au crime, et non à la vengeance. 'Tis crime that must be ended, and not vengeance. Atrée et Thyeste, Act V, Sc. IV (Atrée), as reported by Harbottle (1904), p. 63 Ainsi que le heros brille par ses exploits,La grandeur des bienfaits doit signaler les rois. As all the world the hero's exploits sings,So should good deeds the glory be of kings. Electre, Act II, Sc. IV (Egisthe), as reported by Harbottle (1904), p. 6 Le crime est toujours crime, et jamais la beautéN'a pu servir de voile à sa difformité. Crime is aye crime, and beauty ne'er can beA veil to cover its deformity. Pyrrhus, Act IV, Sc. IV (Pyrrhus), as reported by Harbottle (1904), p. 125 Je connais la fureur de tes soupçons jaloux,Mais j'ai trop de vertu pour craindre mon époux. I know the fury of your jealous suspicions,But I have too much virtue to fear my husband. Rhadamiste et Zénobie, Act IV, Sc. V (Zénobie), via Google Translate (July 2024) A la cour d’un tyran, injuste ou légitime,Le plus léger soupçon tint toujours lieu de crime;Et cest être proscrit que d’être soupçonné. At the court of a tyrant, whether usurped or legitimate, the least suspicion always amounts to crime, and to be suspected is to be proscribed. Rhadamiste et Zénobie, Act V, Sc. II (Arsame), as reported by King (1904), no. 71 On n'est point criminel pour être ambitieux. One is not criminal because ambitious. Sémiramus, Act III, Sc. II (Bélus), as reported by Harbottle (1904), p. 169 La crainte fit les dieux, l'audace a fait les rois. Fear made our gods, boldness has made our kings. Xerxès, Act I, Sc. I (Artaban), reported by Harbottle (1904), p. 103; also reported by King (1904), no. 2149: "Fear made the gods, audacity made kings." Cp. Petronius, Fragment 27, from whom it was borrowed verbatim by Statius, Thebaid, III, 661: Primus in orbe deos fecit timor.—"It was fear first made the gods." La parole des rois n'est plus qu'une ombre vaine. The word of kings is but an empty shadow. Xerxès, Act I, Sc. VIII (Amestris), as reported by Harbottle (1904), p. 112 L'innocence a toujours confondu l'imposture. By innocence imposture's aye confounded. Xerxès, Act IV, Sc. VII (Amestris), as reported by Harbottle (1904), p. 98 Aucun fiel n’a jamais empoisonné ma plume. My pen was never dipped in gall. Discours de réception à l’Académie Française (1731), as reported by King (1904), no. 1745; also reported by Hoyt (1922), p. 48: "No gall has ever poisoned my pen." Cp. Ovid, Tristia, II, 563: Non ego mordaci destrinxi carmine quenquam,  Nec meus ullius crimina versus habet.Candidus a salibus suffusis felle refugi:  Nulla venenato littera mixta joco est. I never wounded soul with verse of mine,  Nor do my works a single charge contain:My pen is free of gall, and not a line  Breathes poison, tho’ conveyed in joking strain. External links T. B. Harbottle; P. H. Dalbiac, Dictionary of Quotations: French and Italian (1904) W. F. H. King, Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904) Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations (1922) Category:Poets from France Category:Playwrights from France Category:1674 births Category:1762 deaths