Alain-René Lesage Quotes

Alain-René Lesage was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel The Devil upon Two Sticks , his comedy Turcaret , and his picaresque novel Gil Blas . Wikipedia  

✵ 6. May 1668 – 17. November 1747
Alain-René Lesage photo

Works

Gil Blas
Alain-René Lesage
Gil Blas
Alain-René Lesage
Alain-René Lesage: 14 quotes3 likes

Famous Alain-René Lesage Quotes

“Pride and conceit were the original sin of man.”

Alain-René Lesage book Gil Blas

Book VII, ch. 3.
Gil Blas (1715-1735)

“Facts are stubborn things.”

Alain-René Lesage book Gil Blas

Book X, ch. 1. Earlier written by Elliot, Essay on Field Husbandry, p. 35 (1747). Translated by Tobias George Smollett, Translation of Gil Blas, Book x, Chapter 1.
Gil Blas (1715-1735)

“I wish you all sorts of prosperity with a little more taste.”

Alain-René Lesage book Gil Blas

Book VII, ch. 4.
Gil Blas (1715-1735)

“It may be said that his wit shines at the expense of his memory.”

Alain-René Lesage book Gil Blas

Book III, ch. 11. Compare: "The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts", Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Speech in Reply to Mr. Dundas, in Sheridaniana.
Gil Blas (1715-1735)

Alain-René Lesage Quotes

“Isocrates was in the right to insinuate, in his elegant Greek expression, that what is got over the Devil's back is spent under his belly.”

Alain-René Lesage book Gil Blas

Book VIII, ch. 9. Compare: "What is got over the Devil's back is spent under the belly", François Rabelais, Works, Book V, ch. 11.
Gil Blas (1715-1735)

“A flatterer can risk everything with great personages.”

Alain-René Lesage book Gil Blas

Book IV, ch. 7.
Gil Blas (1715-1735)

“Plain as a pike-staff.”

Alain-René Lesage book Gil Blas

Book XII, ch. 7. Compare: "A flat case as plain as a pack-staff", Thomas Middleton, The Family of Love (1602-07), Act v, Scene 3.
Gil Blas (1715-1735)

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