“Everyone calls himself a friend, but only a fool relies on it; nothing is commoner than the name, nothing rarer than the thing.”

—  Jean De La Fontaine , book Parole de Socrate

"Parole de Socrate", as quoted in The Wordsworth Book of Humorous Quotations (1998), edited by C. Robertson

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Dec. 4, 2024. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Everyone calls himself a friend, but only a fool relies on it; nothing is commoner than the name, nothing rarer than th…" by Jean De La Fontaine?
Jean De La Fontaine photo
Jean De La Fontaine 47
French poet, fabulist and writer. 1621–1695

Related quotes

Blaise Pascal photo

“Nothing is more common than good things: the point in question is only to discriminate them”

Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher

The Art of Persuasion
Context: Nothing is more common than good things: the point in question is only to discriminate them; and it is certain that they are all natural and within our reach and even known to all mankind.

Kate DiCamillo photo

“Reader, nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name. Nothing.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Variant: Reader, nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name. Nothing.
Source: The Tale of Despereaux (2004)

“The only thing rarer than louts who think is louts who read.”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Source: The Margarets (2007), Chapter 13, “I Am Naumi/On Thairy” (p. 96)

Jacques Maritain photo

“There is nothing man desires more than a heroic life: there is nothing less common to men than heroism.”

Jacques Maritain (1882–1973) French philosopher

True Humanism (1938), p. xi.

Kate DiCamillo photo

“Despereaux," she whispered.
And then she shouted it, "Despereaux!"
Reader, nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name.
Nothing.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

Ben Horowitz photo

“Following conventional wisdom and relying on shortcuts can be worse than knowing nothing at all.”

Ben Horowitz (1966) American businessman

Forbes: "5 Obstacles That Inspired Me To Innovate" https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2018/06/28/5-obstacles-that-inspired-me-to-innovate/#8f06bb42b77f (28 June 2018)

Frank Lloyd Wright photo

“There is nothing more uncommon than common sense.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)

Anonymous saying, dating back at least to its citation in Natural Theology (1836) by Thomas Chalmers, Bk. II, Ch. III : On the Strength of the Evidences for a God in the Phenomena of Visible and External Nature, § 15, where the author states: "It has been said that there is nothing more uncommon than common sense."; it has since become misattributed to particular people, including Frank Lloyd Wright.
Misattributed

William Shakespeare photo

“Nothing is more common than the wish to be remarkable.”

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858), ch. XII : Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable.
Misattributed
Source: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Criminal_Minds_(season_1) Criminal Minds] ("L.D.S.K." - season 1, episode 6).

Michael Swanwick photo

“What the common man calls Evil, he once told me, is nothing more than the fear of one’s own potential.”

Michael Swanwick book Jack Faust

Source: Jack Faust (1997), Chapter 16, “The Wild Hunt” (p. 278)

Related topics