Pierre Corneille Playwright

Gender: Male
Citizenship: France
Born: Jun 6, 1606
Died: Oct 1684

Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian, and one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine.

As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage of Cardinal Richelieu, who was trying to promote classical tragedy along formal lines, but later quarrelled with him, especially over his best-known play Le Cid about a medieval Spanish warrior, which was denounced by the newly formed Académie française for breaching the unities. He continued to write well-received tragedies for nearly forty years.

We never taste a perfect joy our happiest successes are mixed with sadness.

sadness

Every man of courage is a man of his word.

courage

To die for one's country is such a worthy fate that all compete for so beautiful a death.

death

He who does not fear death cares naught for threats.

death & fear

Peace is produced by war.

peace & war

Deceit is the game of petty spirits, and that is by nature a woman's quality.

nature

Each instant of life is a step toward death.

death

Happiness seems made to be shared.

happiness

A true king is neither husband nor father he considers his throne and nothing else.

power

We never taste happiness in perfection, our most fortunate successes are mixed with sadness.

happiness

One often calms one's grief by recounting it.

sympathy

I can be forced to live without happiness, but I will never consent to live without honor.

happiness

Oh rage! Oh despair! Oh age, my enemy!

aging

Master of the universe but not of myself, I am the only rebel against my absolute power.

power

My sweetest hope is to lose hope.

hope