I always do the first line well, but I have trouble doing the others.
MoliereRead
Some of the most famous books are the least worth reading. Their fame was due to their having done something that needed to be doing in their day. The work is done and the virtue of the book has expired.
Interpretation
Famous books may not always hold lasting value, as their relevance can diminish over time.
This quote by Moliere suggests that some books gain fame and recognition not necessarily because of their literary quality, but because they addressed specific issues or ideas relevant to their time. Once the societal context that made these works notable has passed, their significance may fade, indicating that the value of literature can be both time-bound and transient.
In practice
In a book club discussion, one might reference this quote to highlight how some acclaimed works may not hold up under scrutiny.
I always do the first line well, but I have trouble doing the others.
Beauty without intelligence is like a hook without bait.
Betrayed and wronged in everything, I’ll flee this bitter world where vice is king, And seek some spot unpeopled and apart Where I’ll be free to have an honest heart. - Molière, The Misanthrope
Long is the road from conception to completion.
Oh, I may be devout, but I am human all the same.
Hypocrisy is a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtue.
Many girls do not go to school because of poverty.
There are many great authors of the past who have survived centuries of oblivion and neglect, but it is still an open question whether they will be able to survive an entertaining version of what they have to say.
When I was in the Peace Corps I never made a phone call. I was in Central Africa; I didn't make a phone call for two years. I was in Uganda for another four years and I didn't make a phone call. So for six years I didn't make a phone call, but I wrote letters, I wrote short stories, I wrote books.
You can't understand European history at all other than through religion, or English literature either if you can't recognise biblical allusions.
We have the most prolonged adolescence in the history of mankind. There is no other society that requires so many years to pass before people are grown up ... Adolescence is nurtured and prolonged by educational processes and by industry that has found a bonanza in embracing the adolescent population and fortifying 'adolescent values.' This prolongation of adolescence robs the country of the population group having the most risk takers, and the highest ideals.
The study of history is useful to the historian by teaching him his ignorance of women.
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