Ninon de L'Enclos

thumb Anne "Ninon" de l'Enclose (10 November 1620 – 17 October 1705) was a French author, courtesan, and patron of the arts. Quotes Que l'on était bien à plaindre quand on avait besoin du secours de la religion pour se conduire , et que c'était la marque d'un esprit bien borné, ou d'un cœur bien corrompu. Lettres de Ninon de Lenclos au marquis de Sévigné, vol. 1 (Paris, 1805) p. 43 They are either to be pitied or condemned who are obliged to have recourse to religion for the conduct of their lives. 'Tis a sign they have either a narrow soul, or a corrupt heart. Tr. "A Lady" (1761) Those who need religion to help them to behave as they should, are much to be pitied. It is a sure sign of a limited intellect or of a corrupt heart. Tr. Anon. (1904) Le beau billet qu'a La Châtre! Voltaire, Lettre à la Comtesse de Lutzelbourg, 14 September 1753 What a fine position for La Châtre! Tr. Harbottle and Dalbiac (1901) Attributed That which is striking and beautiful is not always good; but that which is good is always beautiful. In Lewis Copeland, Best Quotations for All Occasions (1965), p. 19 A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness (1902) Edited by J. de Finod, New York: D. Appleton and Co Beauty without grace is a hook without a bait. p. 16 Love never dies of starvation, but often of indigestion. p. 24 The desire to please is born in woman before the desire to love. p. 32 Glances are the first billets-doux of love. p. 35 When the intoxication of love has passed, we laugh at the perfections it had discovered. p. 58 A woman should never accept a lover without the consent of her heart, nor a husband without the consent of her judgment. p. 121 A woman is more influenced by what she divines than by what she is told. p. 124 It is the opinion of men that makes the reputation of women. p. 127 When women have passed thirty, the first thing they forget is their age; when they have attained forty, they have entirely lost the remembrance of it. p. 138 A woman is never displeased if we please several other women, provided she is preferred: it is so many more triumphs for her. p. 148 The resistance of a woman is not always a proof of her virtue, but more frequently of her experience. p. 173 Cupid is a traitor who scratches, even when one only plays with him. p. 177 Love without desire is a delusion: it does not exist in nature. p. 193 Vows are the false money that pays for the sacrifices of love. p. 200 Words really flattering are not those which we prepare, but those which escape us unthinkingly. p. 201 Love is rather the god of sensation than of sensibility. p. 214 External links Ninon+de+Lenclos Ninon de l'Enclos Thomas Benfield Harbottle; Philip Hugh Dalbiac, Dictionary of Quotations: French and Italian (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd.; New York: The Macmillan Co., 1901), p. 121 Category:People from Paris Category:1705 deaths