Men should be bewailed at their birth and not at their death.

Il faut pleurer les hommes a leur naissance, et non pas a leur mort.

Montesquieu

Persian Letters

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More information about this quote

Topic

Tragic view of life Birth and death The human condition

Author

Montesquieu

Source

Persian Letters

Medium

Novel

Genre

Epistolary novel

Language

French

Time

1721 1720s 18th century

Occupation

Philosopher Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Montesquieu. Uzbek to Ibben. 20th of the moon of Rhegeb, 1713.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Montesquieu about tragic view of life: “Men should be bewailed at their birth and not at their death.”
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A quote by Montesquieu about tragic view of life: “Men should be bewailed at their birth and not at their death.”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1720s

The body of
B. Franklin,
Printer;
Like the cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out,
And stript of its lettering and gilding,
Lies here, food for worms.
But the work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believ’d, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect edition,
Corrected and amended
By the Author.

Benjamin Franklin

Read more about Ben Franklin's epitaph at the National Archives website
More information about this quote
Topic
Afterlife

Author

Benjamin Franklin
Source
Epitaph for Himself
Medium
Epitaph
Statement Type
Epitaph Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
English
Time
1728 1720s 18th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. Epitaph for himself. 1728.

Current Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. "Epitaph." Benjamin Franklin: Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body and Early Writings, edited by J. A. Leo Lemay. Library of America, 2005.

Another quote about The human condition

Man was made for joy and woe,
And when this we rightly know
Through the world we safely go.

William Blake

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More information about this quote
Topic
The human condition Wisdom Happiness Sadness

Author

William Blake
Source
Poems from the Pickering Manuscript
Medium
Poem
Language
English
Time
1805 1800s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Blake, William. "Auguries of Innocence." Songs of Innocence and Experience, with Other Poems. London: Basil Montagu Pickering, 1866.

Current Citation

Blake, William. "Auguries of Innocence." William Blake: Selected Poems, edited by Nicholas Shrimpton. Oxford University Press, 2019.

Another quote originally in French

The bonds between ourselves and another person exist only in our minds. Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by which we want to be duped and which, out of love, friendship, politeness, deference, duty, we dupe other people, we exist alone. Man is the creature who cannot escape from himself, who knows other people only in himself, and when he asserts the contrary, he is lying.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

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More information about this quote
Topic
Existential solitude Connecting with others Isolation The human condition

Author

Marcel Proust
Source
The Fugitive In Search of Lost Time
Medium
Novel
Genre
Modernist literature
Language
French
Time
1922 1920s 20th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Albertine disparue [Albertine Gone]. Paris: Gallimard, 1927.

Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. The Fugitive, edited and translated by Peter Collier. Penguin Classics, 2021.