Fables Quotes

“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.”
― Jean de La Fontaine, Fables

“Rien ne sert de courir il faut partir à point”
― Jean de La Fontaine, The Fables of La Fontaine

“There's nothing sweeter than a real friend:
Not only is he prompt to lend—
An angler delicate, he fishes
The very deepest of your wishes,
And spares your modesty the task
His friendly aid to ask.
A dream, a shadow, wakes his fear,
When pointing at the object dear.”
― Jean de La Fontaine, Fables

“I don't believe that Nature's powers
Have tied her hands or pinioned ours,
By marking on the heavenly vault
Our fate without mistake or fault.
That fate depends on conjunctions
Of places, persons, times, and tracks,
And not on the functions
Of more or less of quacks.”
― Jean de La Fontaine, Fables

“Apprenez que tout flatteur
Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute :
Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute.

Flatterers thrive on fools' credulity.
The lesson's worth a cheese, don't you agree?”
― Jean de La Fontaine, Fables de La Fontaine