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
Phèdre
Jean Racine
Athalie
Athalie
Jean Racine
Britannicus
Jean Racine
Jean Racine: 15 quotes18 likes

Famous Jean Racine Quotes

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

Jean Racine Berenice

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!”

Jean Racine Andromaque

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.”

Jean Racine Phèdre

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.”

Jean Racine Athalie

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

Jean Racine Quotes

“Innocence has nothing to dread.”

Jean Racine Phèdre

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

“My only hope lies in my despair.”

Jean Racine Bajazet

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

“God of the Jews, you prevail!”

Jean Racine Athalie

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.”

Jean Racine Phèdre

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.”

Jean Racine Phèdre

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

“You have named him, not I.”

Jean Racine Phèdre

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?”

Jean Racine Athalie

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.”

Jean Racine Britannicus

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.”

Jean Racine Phèdre

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

Similar authors

Pedro Calderón de la Barca photo
Pedro Calderón de la Barca8
Spanish dramatist None
Henry Fielding photo
Henry Fielding70
English novelist and dramatist None
Claude Adrien Helvétius photo
Claude Adrien Helvétius8
French philosopher None
Jean De La Fontaine photo
Jean De La Fontaine47
French poet, fabulist and writer. None
Pierre Beaumarchais photo
Pierre Beaumarchais11
French playwright diplomat and polymath None
Nicolas Chamfort photo
Nicolas Chamfort54
French writer None
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues photo
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues60
French writer, a moralist None
Maximilien Robespierre photo
Maximilien Robespierre78
French revolutionary lawyer and politician None
Joseph Joubert photo
Joseph Joubert253
French moralist and essayist None
Marquis de Sade photo
Marquis de Sade30
French novelist and philosopher None