WIST Quotations

Moliere -- (Misattributed)

Dave — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 20:02:12 +0000

Beauty without intelligence is like a hook without bait.

Molière (1622–1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
(Misattributed)

Widely attributed to Moliere, and usually to his play Tartuffe. An extensive look across multiple translations of that and other Moliere plays finds no reference to any of those four nouns that at all resembles this sentiment.

Instead, the phrase appears to originate from Ninon de Lenclos (1620-1705), French letter writer, courtesan, and salonnière. Moliere knew her when he was a child. Attributed to her is the phrase "La beauté sans grâce est un hameçon sans appât," which sometimes is translated as above, or as "Beauty without grace ...."

L'Enclos, Ninon de -- The Memoirs of Ninon de L’Enclos, Vol. 1, “Life and Character” (1761)

Dave — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:40:22 +0000

Beauty without grace, is a hook without a bait.

Anne "Ninon" de l'Enclos (1620–1705) French author, courtesan, patron of the arts [Ninon de Lenclos, Ninon de Lanclos]
The Memoirs of Ninon de L’Enclos, Vol. 1, “Life and Character” (1761)
(Source)

Ralph Waldo Emerson used almost precisely the same phrase in "Beauty," The Conduct of Life (1860).

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Bait,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

Dave — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 23:17:35 +0000

BAIT, n. A preparation that renders the hook more palatable. The best kind is beauty.

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Bait,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)

Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911). Originally published in the "Devil's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1881-04-23).

Dryden, John -- Epistle 13 “To My Honoured Kinsman, John Driden of Chesterton” (1699)

Dave — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 16:23:52 +0000

Better shun the bait than struggle in the snare.

John Dryden (1631–1700) English poet, dramatist, critic
Epistle 13 “To My Honoured Kinsman, John Driden of Chesterton” (1699)