Jean Racine Quotes

Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France , and an important literary figure in the Western tradition. Racine was primarily a tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as Phèdre, Andromaque, and Athalie, although he did write one comedy, Les Plaideurs, and a muted tragedy, Esther, for the young.

Racine's plays displayed his mastery of the dodecasyllabic alexandrine; he is renowned for elegance, purity, speed, and fury, and for what Robert Lowell described as a "diamond-edge", and the "glory of its hard, electric rage". The linguistic effects of Racine's poetry are widely considered to be untranslatable, although many eminent poets have attempted to do so, including Lowell, Ted Hughes, Tony Harrison, and Derek Mahon into English, and Friedrich Schiller into German. The latest attempt to translate Racine's plays into English earned a 2011 American Book Award for the poet Geoffrey Argent. Racine's dramaturgy is marked by his psychological insight, the prevailing passion of his characters, and the nakedness of both plot and stage.



✵ 22. December 1639 – 21. April 1699   •   Other names Jean Babtiste Racine
Jean Racine photo

Works

Phèdre
Jean Racine
Athalie
Athalie
Jean Racine
Britannicus
Jean Racine
Andromaque
Jean Racine
Bajazet
Jean Racine
Berenice
Berenice
Jean Racine
Jean Racine: 15   quotes 18   likes

Famous Jean Racine Quotes

“You are Emperor, my lord, and yet you weep?”

Vous êtes empereur, Seigneur, et vous pleurez!
Bérénice, Bérénice, (1670), act IV, scene V.

“I loved him too much not to hate him at all!”

Je l'ai trop aimé pour ne le point haïr!
Source: Hermione, Andromaque (1667), act II, scene I.

“It is no longer a passion hidden in my heart:
It is Venus herself fastened to her prey.”

Ce n'est plus une ardeur dans mes veines cachée:
C'est Vénus tout entière à sa proie attachée.
Phèdre, act I, scene III.
Phèdre (1677)

“To repair the irreparable ravages of time.”

Pour réparer des ans l'irréparable outrage.
Athalie, act II, scene V (1691).
Athalie (1691)

Jean Racine Quotes

“Innocence has nothing to dread.”

L'innocence enfin n'a rien à redouter.
Hippolyte, act III, scene VI.
Phèdre (1677)

“My only hope lies in my despair.”

Mon unique espérance est dans mon désespoir.
Atalide, Bajazet, (1672), act I, scene IV.

“God of the Jews, you prevail!”

Dieu des Juifs, tu l'emportes!
Athalie, act V, scene VI.
Athalie (1691)

“Crime, like virtue, has its degrees;
And timid innocence was never known
To blossom suddenly into extreme license.”

Ainsi que la vertu, le crime a ses dégrés;
Et jamais on n'a vu la timide innocence
Passer subitement à l'extrême licence.
Hippolyte, act IV, scene II.
Phèdre (1677)

“All afflicts and injures me, and conspires to my injury.”

Tout m'afflige et me nuit, et conspire à me nuire.
Phèdre, act I, scene III.
Phèdre (1677)

“You have named him, not I.”

C'est toi qui l'as nommé.
Phèdre, act I, scene III.
Phèdre (1677)

“Today, let us make haste to enjoy life. Who knows if we will be tomorrow?”

Hâtons-nous aujourd'hui de jouir de la vie. Qui sait si nous serons demain?
Athalie, act II, scene IX.
Athalie (1691)

“Behind a veil, unseen yet present,
I was the forceful soul that moved this mighty body.”

Derrière un voile, invisible et présente,
J'étais de ce grand corps l'âme toute-puissante.
Agrippine, Britannicus, (1669), act I, scene I.

“Ariane, my sister, wounded by what love,
You died on the shores where you were abandoned.”

Ariane, ma sœur, de quel amour blessée,
Vous mourûtes aux bords où vous fûtes laissée.
Phèdre, act I, scene III.
Phèdre (1677)

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