Want to share a philosophical or humorous thought on Facebook? Follow our tips for formatting text in a publication and use our selection of quotes if you lack inspiration.
Impossible to escape it on Facebook: every day, on your news feed, scroll publications containing quotes, statements or words of author. More or less philosophical, poetic, historical, humorous sentences, formatted with more or less taste in large, clearly visible blocks or simply published as a status, to share a mood, a reflection or an opinion.
However, not everyone has the depth of mind of a Socrates, a Montaigne, a Pascal or a Spinoza, the liveliness of an Audiard, a Desproges, a Groucho or a Coluche, the finesse of a Wilde, the eloquence of a Baer or the virtuosity of a De Groodt. Also, rather than publishing a platitude with an approximate spelling and syntax, it is still better to dig into the world’s cultural heritage to take up a relevant, surprising, amusing or caustic quote from a famous or anonymous author. Here is a selection – in essence, not exhaustive… –, with some tips for formatting them in a Facebook status.
Rather than posting a simple sentence on your Facebook status, use the social network’s formatting tools to highlight your text: your post will be even more visible.
► With your usual web browser, connect to your Facebook account and click in the area What’s new ? intended to express you, on the news feed or on your profile.
► A small window titled Create your publication appears. Click on the color box at the bottom left marked container Aa.
► Then click on one of the squares in the horizontal drop-down menu which opened, in order to choose a background. You can return to a neutral background by clicking on the White square to the right of the arrow (which is to the left of the drop-down).
► The chosen background is immediately applied.
► Then enter your personal text…
► Or paste a quote which you have collected.
► Small precision: if you click on the three dots, at the bottom right, you have access to other functions allowing you to expand your status: smileys related to your mood or your activity, identification of friends, location… If you want to return to the previous screen, simply to click on the arrowon the top corner left…
► When you are satisfied, click on the button Publish. Your status is online, with your quote formatted…
► Finally, if you click on the three dots at the bottom right (see above) before choosing a background, you have access to other functions relating to your status. Don’t forget that you can publish, modify or delete your articles at any time.
Like the web version, the Facebook mobile app gives you several tools to format the text posted in your status.
► Open the Facebook application on your mobile, log in from the Facebook application if you are not automatically identified, and press in the area What’s new ? intended to express you on the news feed or on your profile.
► Scroll the drop-down menu to access the various functions relating to your status (Photo/video, identification, Mood/activity, etc.). For example, press Aa Background color to choose a background for your status.
► In the ribbon that appears with colored squares, tap the square corresponding to the background you have chosen.
► The chosen background is immediately applied.
► Then enter a sentence with the virtual keyboard or paste a retrieved quote.
► When you are satisfied, press the button Publish : your status is online… Of course, you can publish, modify or delete your statuses at any time.
What are the best quotes for Facebook?
You can post any thought, quip, or personal remark in a Facebook status. But you can also use phrases from famous writers, historians, philosophers or comedians. Here is a small selection of more or less famous quotes, in case you lack inspiration.
- What is conceived well is expressed clearly, and them words to say it come easily. Nicolas Boileau
- You have to collect the stones thrown at you. This is the start of a pedestal. Hector Berlioz
- Do you want to count your friends? Borrow money from them. Alexandre Dumas Jr.
- When the hundred and thirty-kilo guys say certain things, the sixty-kilo guys listen to them. Michael Audiard
- How you have to work to be natural! Louis Jouvet
- I can resist to anything, but temptation. Oscar Wilde
- It takes a very long time to become young. Pablo Picasso
- Melancholy is the happiness of being sad. Victor-Hugo
- We don’t bring sausages when we go to Frankfurt! Michael Audiard
- A specialist is someone who knows everything about something and nothing about the rest. Ambrose Bierce
- Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of humanity. Albert Einstein
- I don’t talk to idiots, it educates them. Michael Audiard
- If I would have read all the books, I wouldn’t have been any further ahead. Pierre Desproges
- Work with the people you want to drink with, and drink with the people you want to work with! Peter Brewer to his son Claude
- There are two mistakes made about conspiracies: the first is to see them everywhere; the second is to see none anywhere. Frank Lepage
- I have the simplest tastes in the world, I am satisfied with the best. Oscar Wilde
- Always fun is not fun. Voltaire
- Intelligence is not rocket science, just think of bullshit and say the opposite… Colouche
- I find home television to be very culturally supportive. Every time someone turns it on in my house, I go into the next room and read. Groucho Marx
- There are people you can count on. These are usually people we don’t need. Sacha Guitry
- You can shake my hand, miss ; you can’t catch talent. Louis Jouvet
- We only lend to the rich, and we are quite right, because the others have difficulty repaying. Tristan Bernard
- A defendant is cooked when his lawyer is not believed. Pierre Dac
- Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, and hate leads to violence. That’s the equation. Averroes
- To be a blameless member of a community of sheep, one must first and foremost be a sheep oneself. Albert Einstein
- When a philosopher answers me, I no longer understand my question. Pierre Desproges
- When we want we can. When we can, we must. Napoleon Bonaparte
- When a great man’s heart stops beating, an artery is named after him. Pierre Daninos
- How far-sighted nature is! She grows the apples in Normandy knowing that the natives of this province only drink cider. Henry Monnier
- The more men are enlightened, the more they will be free. Voltaire
- If those who speak ill of me knew exactly what I think of them, they would say much more. Sacha Guitry
- A gentleman is someone who can describe Sophia Loren without making a gesture. Michael Audiard
- In terms of racism, there are two kinds of people on Earth: those who think there are two kinds of people on Earth, and those who don’t. Francois Rollin
- The only real beast of burden is the tsetse fly. Pierre Dac
- Coffee is a drink that makes you sleep when you don’t drink it. Alphonse Allais
- In your professional ascent, always be very kind to those you pass on the way up. You will find them in the same place on the way down. Woody Allen
- The chameleon only has the color of the chameleon when it is placed on another chameleon. Francois Cavanna
- A horse is awkward in the middle and dangerous at both ends. Winston Churchill
- A dangerous driver is someone who overtakes you despite your best efforts to stop him. Woody Allen
- You would make an excellent critic. You speak very well of what you know very little… Henry Jeanson
- And then what, what does the culture matter? When he wrote Hamlet, had Molière read Rostand? Nope ! Pierre Desproges
- If we take epitaphs seriously, we must bury the living and raise the dead. Mark Twain
- The French believe that they speak French well because they don’t speak any foreign language. Tristan Bernard
- If Adam had been gay, no one would be around to tell. Oscar Wilde
- The advantage of being smart is that you can play dumb, when the opposite is impossible. Woody Allen
- We always speak badly when we have nothing to say. Voltaire
- I will drink milk the day the cows eat grapes. John Gabin
- The ebb and flow make me tide. Raymond Devos
- If God exists, I hope he has a good excuse. Woody Allen
- I had a great evening… but it wasn’t this one. Groucho Marx
- How many actors seem natural because they have no talent. Jules Renard
- The woman will be the equal of the man the day she accepts being bald and finds it distinguished. Colouche
- Not recognizing one’s talent is facilitating the success of the mediocre. Michael Audiard
- We live on what we get. We build our life on what we give. Winston Churchill
- Nothing gets done without a little enthusiasm. Voltaire
- The cons, it dares everything. That’s why we even recognize them. Michael Audiard
- As long as man is mortal, he will never be relaxed. Woody Allen
- In every old man there is a young man who wonders what happened. Terry Pratchett
- If I had to start my life over again, I would make the same mistakes… but sooner! Groucho Marx
- He who walks against the crowd is rarely a fool. Anonymous