The most famous morals from La Fontaine's Fables
The top 3 according to 7 votes from people: Depending on whether you are powerful or wretched, the court's judgements will make you white or black. · Never sell the bear's skin before you have brought it down. · Alas! We see that in all times the little ones have suffered for the follies of the great.. (Updated Jan 16, 2023.)
From The Crow and the Fox to The Animals Sick of the Plague: La Fontaine's lines that became proverbs, with the fable and book they come from.
Automatically translated (original in Français). See the original
Top 14
-
1
Depending on whether you are powerful or wretched, the court's judgements will make you white or black.
The Animals Sick of the Plague, Book VII, fable 1.
-
2
Never sell the bear's skin before you have brought it down.
The Bear and the Two Companions, Book V, fable 20.
-
3
Alas! We see that in all times the little ones have suffered for the follies of the great.
The Two Bulls and a Frog, Book II, fable 4.
-
4
With an ignorant magistrate, it is the robe that people bow to.
The Ass Carrying Relics, Book V, fable 14.
-
5
The world is old, they say: I believe it; yet it must still be amused like a child.
The Power of Fables.
-
6
Patience and time do more than strength or rage.
The Lion and the Rat, Book II, fable 11.
-
7
Distrust is the mother of safety.
The Cat and an Old Rat, Book III, fable 18.
-
8
It is good to speak, and better to keep silent.
The Bear and the Garden Lover, Book VIII, fable 10.
-
9
Greed loses everything by trying to win everything.
The Hen with the Golden Eggs, Book V.
-
10
Every bourgeois wants to build like great lords, every petty prince has ambassadors, every marquis wants pages.
The Frog Who Wished to Be as Big as the Ox, Book I, fable 3.
-
11
Nothing is more common than the name, nothing rarer than the thing (on friendship).
Socrates' Saying, Book IV, fable 17.
-
12
Love, love, when you have hold of us, we may well say: farewell, prudence.
The Lion in Love, Book IV, fable 1.
-
13
Learn that every flatterer lives at the expense of whoever listens to him.
The Crow and the Fox, Book I, fable 2.
-
14
But the shortest works are always the best.
Discourse to the Duke of La Rochefoucauld, Book X, fable 14.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first!