The Misanthrope
CRITIQUE | QUOTES | TRANSLATIONS
First edition frontispieceOriginally
Le Misanthrope
First performance
1666
Literature form
Play
Genres
Comedy
Writing language
French
Author's country
France
Length
Five acts, approx. 14,000 words
Notable lines
What is it? What's the matter?
— First lines
There's nothing I hate more than the contortions of your protestation-mongers, the affable exchangers of fatuous greetings, polite mouthers of meaningless words, who bandy civilities with all comers and treat everyone, blockhead and man of sense, alike.
To esteem everything is to esteem nothing.
The more we love our friends, the less we flatter them;
It is by excusing nothing that pure love shows itself.
If every heart were just, frank, kindly,
The other virtues would be well-nigh useless,
Since their chief purpose is to make us bear with patience
The injustice of our fellows.
Come, madame, we must do all we can, to give up this foolish plan.
— Last lines
CRITIQUE | QUOTES | TRANSLATIONS
