Je vais t'entretenir de moindres aventures,
Te tracer en ces vers de légères peintures;
Et si de t'agréer je n'emporte le prix,
J'aurai du moins d'honneur de l'avoir entrepris." - Meaning and context.">
For thee I'll trace in verses which I write
Some sketches, paintings which indeed are light,
And if the prize of pleasing thee I do not bear away,
At least, the honour I shall have of having tried I say.
• Book I (1668), Dedication "To Monseigneur the Dauphin".

Je vais t'entretenir de moindres aventures,
Te tracer en ces vers de légères peintures;
Et si de t'agréer je n'emporte le prix,
J'aurai du moins d'honneur de l'avoir entrepris.

— Jean de La Fontaine

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Je vais t'entretenir de moindres aventures,
Te tracer en ces vers de légères peintures;
Et si de t'agréer je n'emporte le prix,
J'aurai du moins d'honneur de l'avoir entrepris.
" in the context of "For thee I'll trace in verses which I write
Some sketches, paintings which indeed are light,
And if the prize of pleasing thee I do not bear away,
At least, the honour I shall have of having tried I say.
• Book I (1668), Dedication "To Monseigneur the Dauphin"." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Jean de La Fontaine" (Quotes, Fables (1668–1679), Book I) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Jean de La Fontaine

About Jean de La Fontaine

Jean de La Fontaine (July 8 1621 – April 13 1695) is a famous French fabulist and the most widely read French poet of the 17th century.