{"id":2403,"date":"2015-12-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-30T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/2025\/06\/19\/je-definis-la-cour-un-pays-ou-les-gens\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T09:15:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T07:15:15","slug":"je-definis-la-cour-un-pays-ou-les-gens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/je-definis-la-cour-un-pays-ou-les-gens\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00ab Je d\u00e9finis la cour un pays o\u00f9 les gens,&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/jean_de_la_fontaine_citations.jpg\" alt=\"Jean de La Fontaine citations\" title=\"Jean de La Fontaine citations\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto\" width=\"260\" height=\"332\"><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"citation\"><span class=\"enonce\">\u00ab\u00a0Je d\u00e9finis la cour un pays o\u00f9 les gens, Tristes, gais, pr\u00eats \u00e0 tout, \u00e0 tout indiff\u00e9rents, Sont ce qu\u2019il pla\u00eet au prince, ou, s\u2019ils ne peuvent l\u2019\u00eatre T\u00e2chent au moins de le para\u00eetre\u00a0: Peuple cam\u00e9l\u00e9on, peuple singe du ma\u00eetre.\u00a0\u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"auteur\"><span data-href=\"\/auteurs\/jean-de-la-fontaine\"><span class=\"author\"><span class=\"surname\">Jean de <\/span><span class=\"name\"><span class=\"caps\">LA<\/span> <span class=\"caps\">FONTAINE<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> (1621-1695), <cite>Fables<\/cite>. Les Obs\u00e8ques de la lionne (1678)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"ressi\">N\u00e9 bourgeois, auteur \u00e0 qui sa charge de \u00ab\u00a0ma\u00eetre des Eaux et For\u00eats\u00a0\u00bb laisse bien des loisirs pour fr\u00e9quenter les salons, lire les Modernes, leur pr\u00e9f\u00e9rer d\u2019ailleurs les Anciens, \u00e9crire enfin. Fouquet est son m\u00e9c\u00e8ne et, \u00e0 la chute du surintendant (1661), La Fontaine trouve d\u2019autres riches protecteurs (et surtout protectrices, duchesse d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans, Mme\u00a0de la Sabli\u00e8re, Marie-Anne Mancini, etc.).<\/p>\n<p>Courtisan \u00e0 la cour, il est cependant \u00e9pris de libert\u00e9 et fort habile \u00e0 la g\u00e9rer, tout en m\u00e9nageant son confort.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"citation-small\">\u00ab\u00a0Selon que vous serez puissant ou mis\u00e9rable<br>Les jugements de cour vous rendront blanc ou noir.\u00a0\u00bb<span id=\"842\" class=\"cit-num\">842<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"auteur\">Jean de <span class=\"caps\">LA<\/span> <span class=\"caps\">FONTAINE<\/span> (1621-1695), <em>Fables<\/em>, <em>Les Animaux malades de la peste<\/em> (1678)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>La Fontaine se sert \u00ab\u00a0d\u2019animaux pour instruire les hommes\u00a0\u00bb, mais aussi pour faire une satire de son \u00e9poque, comme Moli\u00e8re et La Bruy\u00e8re. Nombre de proverbes rest\u00e9s c\u00e9l\u00e8bres sont copi\u00e9s-coll\u00e9s des moralit\u00e9s de ses <em>Fables\u00a0<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tout flatteur vit aux d\u00e9pens de celui qui l\u2019\u00e9coute (Le Corbeau et le Renard)<\/li>\n<li>La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure (Le Loup et l\u2019Agneau)<\/li>\n<li>Si ce n\u2019est toi, c\u2019est donc ton fr\u00e8re. (ibidem)<\/li>\n<li>Je plie et ne romps pas. (Le Ch\u00eane et le Roseau)<\/li>\n<li>On a souvent besoin d\u2019un plus petit que soi. (Le Lion et le Rat)<\/li>\n<li>Est bien fou du cerveau qui pr\u00e9tend contenter tout le monde et son p\u00e8re. (Le Meunier, son Fils et l\u2019\u00c2ne)<\/li>\n<li>Ils sont trop verts et bons pour des goujats.\u00a0(Le Renard et les Raisins)<\/li>\n<li>La m\u00e9fiance est m\u00e8re de la s\u00fbret\u00e9. (Le Chat et un vieux Rat)<\/li>\n<li>Petit poisson deviendra grand pourvu que Dieu lui pr\u00eate vie (Le Petit Poisson et le P\u00eacheur)<\/li>\n<li>Un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l\u2019auras. (ibidem)<\/li>\n<li>Rien ne sert de courir\u00a0; il faut partir \u00e0 point. (Le Li\u00e8vre et la Tortue)<\/li>\n<li>Aide-toi, le Ciel t\u2019aidera. (Le Chartier embourb\u00e9)<\/li>\n<li>Tel est pris qui croyait prendre. (Le Rat et l\u2019Hu\u00eetre)<\/li>\n<li>Amour, Amour, quand tu nous tiens \/ On peut bien dire\u00a0: Adieu prudence. (Le Lion amoureux)<\/li>\n<li>Il ne faut jamais vendre la peau de l\u2019ours avant de l\u2019avoir tu\u00e9 (L\u2019Ours et les deux compagnons).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cette liste (non exhaustive) fait de notre fabuliste national le plus grand auteur de proverbes\u2026 \u00e0 ceci pr\u00e8s qu\u2019il les a presque tous emprunt\u00e9s \u00e0 d\u2019autres auteurs. Mais le \u00ab\u00a0plagiat\u00a0\u00bb \u00e9tait une pratique litt\u00e9raire courante (et l\u00e9gale)\u00a0: La Fontaine s\u2019est souvent inspir\u00e9 de ses confr\u00e8res \u2013 \u00c9sope, mais aussi Ph\u00e8dre, Pline et autres mod\u00e8les antiques \u2013 pour faire mieux encore. L\u00e0 est tout son g\u00e9nie.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"louis xiv citations\" href=\"http:\/\/www.histoire-en-citations.fr\/boutique\/volume-3\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/histoire-en-citations-volume-3-12.jpg\" alt=\"Louis xiv citations\" title=\"Louis xiv citations\" style=\"float: left;margin: 10px\" width=\"165\" height=\"220\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"louis xiv citations\" href=\"http:\/\/www.histoire-en-citations.fr\/boutique\/volume-3\" target=\"_blank\">Feuilletez notre Chronique sur le Si\u00e8cle de Louis <span class=\"caps\">XIV<\/span> pour tout savoir.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\r\n        a .cit-num {\r\n            text-decoration: none !important;\r\n            color: inherit !important;\r\n        }\r\n    <\/style>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00ab\u00a0Je d\u00e9finis la cour un pays o\u00f9 les gens, Tristes, gais, pr\u00eats \u00e0 tout, \u00e0 tout indiff\u00e9rents, Sont ce qu&#8217;il pla\u00eet au prince, ou, s&#8217;ils ne peuvent l&#8217;\u00eatre T\u00e2chent au moins de le para\u00eetre\u00a0: Peuple cam\u00e9l\u00e9on, peuple singe du ma\u00eetre.\u00a0\u00bb Jean de LA FONTAINE (1621-1695), Fables. Les Obs\u00e8ques de la lionne (1678) N\u00e9 bourgeois, auteur [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":61,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1440],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cameleon-citation-du-jour-cour-etre-gais-indifferents-jean-de-la-fontaine-la-cour-les-courtisans-et-les-grands-maitre-paraitre-peuple-prince-siecle-de-louis-xiv-singe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2406,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}