Jean Racine

"The greatest tragedies are those we create for ourselves."

"Truth, like light, blinds those who are not prepared to see it."

"Our passions are the true orators of our deepest convictions."

"The chains we forge in life are worn in death."

"Beauty fades, but the memory of beauty endures."

"To understand human nature, one must first understand human weakness."

"Hope is the last companion to abandon us."

"We are slaves to our desires until we master them."

"Language is the mirror of the soul."

"The scaffold and the throne are equally vulnerable to time."

"Patience is not the absence of action, but action in waiting."

"Love without virtue is merely appetite."

"The pen is mightier than the sword because it speaks to eternity."

"We cannot escape our nature any more than the river can escape the sea."

"Every heart harbors a secret garden of forbidden thoughts."

"Success born of compromise is but a hollow victory."

"The greatest gift is the ability to see ourselves as others see us."

"Death is not the opposite of life, but its completion."

"In conflict, the victor and vanquished often exchange roles."

"The muse speaks only to those who listen in silence."

"Ambition without humility becomes tyranny."

"A kind word, like a seed, grows in the most unexpected places."

"The past is a country from which none return unchanged."

"We mistake habit for love and fear for loyalty."

"Providence rewards the persistent and punishes the negligent."

"The greatest art conceals the labor of its making."

"Vanity is the oil that makes the wheels of society turn."

"Silence is the language of those who have much to say."

"The heart's rebellion begins where reason's dominion ends."

"To be forgotten is a fate worse than death."