Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian - Life

Life

His mother, a Spanish lady named Gilette de Salgues, died when he was a child. He was brought up by his grandfather and studied at St. Hippolyte. His uncle and guardian, the Marquis of Florian, who had married a niece of Voltaire, introduced him at the château de Ferney and in 1768 he became page at Anet in the household of the Duc de Penthièvre, who remained his friend throughout his life. Having studied for some time at the artillery school at Bapaume he obtained from his patron a captain's commission in the dragoon regiment of Penthièvre.

He left the army soon after and began to write comedies, and was elected to the Académie Française in 1788. On the outbreak of the French Revolution he retired to Sceaux, but he was soon discovered and imprisoned; and though Robespierre's death spared him, he died a few months later still in prison.

Read more about this topic:  Jean-Pierre Claris De Florian

Famous quotes containing the word life:

    Had I but died an hour before this chance
    I had lived a blessed time; for from this instant
    There’s nothing serious in mortality.
    All is but toys. Renown and grace is dead;
    The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
    Is left this vault to brag of.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    The secret of the truly successful, I believe, is that they learned very early in life how not to be busy. They saw through that adage, repeated to me so often in childhood, that anything worth doing is worth doing well. The truth is, many things are worth doing only in the most slovenly, halfhearted fashion possible, and many other things are not worth doing at all.
    Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)

    While you here do snoring lie,
    Open-eyed conspiracy
    His time doth take.
    If of life you keep a care,
    Shake off slumber, and beware.
    Awake, Awake!
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)