“If censorship reigns, there cannot be sincere flattery, and none but little men are afraid of little writings.”

— Pierre Beaumarchais, The Marriage of Figaro

Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n'est point d'éloge flatteur; et qu'il n'y a que les petits hommes qui redoutent les petits écrits.
Act V, scene iii
The Marriage of Figaro (1778)

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Pierre Beaumarchais11

French playwright diplomat and polymath 1732–1799

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