Jean de La Fontaine

Jean de La Fontaine

16 quotes

The French fabulist and poet Jean de La Fontaine is someone whose pithy observations have become part of everyday conversation. Their thinking spans from Fear to Friendship, revealing a mind that refused to stay in one lane. Our collection holds 22 quotes from Jean de La Fontaine, each offering a different angle on Fear, Friendship, Work, Truth, and Time. To get a sense of their style, try: "Beware, so long as you live, of judging men by their outward appearance."

“Sadness flies away on the wings of time.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Sad

All Quotes by Jean de La Fontaine

“Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Death

“Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Fear

“We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Fear

“Friendship is the shadow of the evening, which increases with the setting sun of life.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Friendship

“People must help one another it is nature's law.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Nature

“Beware, so long as you live, of judging men by their outward appearance.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Men

“Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Power

“Everyone has his faults which he continually repeats: neither fear nor shame can cure them.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Fear

“Let ignorance talk as it will, learning has its value.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Learning

“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Future

“Sadness flies away on the wings of time.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Sad

“Patience and time do more than strength or passion.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Patience

“The strongest passion is fear.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Fear

“Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Friendship

“By the work one knows the workman.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Art

“It is impossible to please all the world and one's father.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Dad