“I can be forced to live without happiness, But I will never consent to live without honor.”

— Pierre Corneille, Le Cid (1636), act II, scene i

About Pierre Corneille

1606 – 1684

French dramatist, one of the three great tragedians of 17th-century France, author of 'Le Cid'.

“One often calms one's grief by recounting it.”

“Reason and love are sworn enemies.”

“As great as kings may be, they are what we are: they can err like other men.”

“Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness?”

“We think a happy life consists in tranquility of mind.”

“The happiness of men consists in life. And life is in labor.”

“There is only one enduring happiness in life—to live for others.”

“The consciousness of life is higher than life, the knowledge of the laws of happiness is higher than happiness.”

“It's the great mystery of human life that old grief passes gradually into quiet tender joy.”