Jean de la Bruyere Quotes

There is no employment in the world so laborious as that of making to one's self a great name; life ends before one has scarcely made the first rough draught of his work.

When what you read elevates your mind and fills you with noble aspirations, look for no other rule by which to judge a book; it is good, and is the work of a master-hand.

The duty of a judge is to administer justice, but his practice is to delay it

It is boorish to live ungraciously: the giving is the hardest part; what does it cost to add a smile?

It is through madness that we hate an enemy, and think of revenging ourselves; and it is through indolence that we are appeased, and do not revenge ourselves.

False modesty is the refinement of vanity. It is a lie.

Foolish jokers are thick on the ground, and it rains insects of that sort everywhere. A good joker is a rarity; even a man who is such by nature finds it hard to sustain the part for long; it seldom happens that the man who makes us laugh wins our esteem.

Jesting is often only indigence of intellect.

Logic is the art of convincing us some truth.

An egotist will always speak of himself, either in praise or in censure, but a modest man ever shuns making himself the subject of his conversation.

We are more sociable, and get on better with people by the heart than the intellect.

One must laugh before one is happy, or one may die without ever laughing at all.

Avoid making yourself the subject of conversation.

Too great carelessness, equally with excess in dress, multiplies the wrinkles of old age, and makes its decay still more conspicuous.

Grief that is dazed and speechless is out of fashion: the modern woman mourns her husband loudly and tells you the whole story of his death, which distresses her so much that she forgets not the slightest detail about it.

In Friendship we only see those faults which may be prejudicial to our friends. In love we see no faults but those by which we suffer ourselves.

The passion of hatred is so long lived and so obstinate a malady that the surest sign of death in a sick person is their desire for reconciliation.

Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker.

The doctors allow one to die, the charlatans kill.

The fears of old age disturb us, yet how few attain it?

The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes.

We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together.

We meet With few utterly dull and stupid souls: the sublime and transcendent are still fewer; the generality of mankind stand between these two extremes: the interval is filled with multitudes of ordinary geniuses, but all very useful, and the ornaments and supports of the commonwealth.

A man unattached and without wife, if he have any genius at all, may raise himself above his original position, may mingle with the world of fashion, and hold himself on a level with the highest; this is less easy for him who is engaged; it seems as if marriage put the whole world in their proper rank.

Friendship * * * is a long time in forming, it is of slow growth, through many trials and months of familiarity.

There are only two ways by which to rise in this world, either by one's own industry or by the stupidity of others.

No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends as to give them no cause to miss him less.

The most important things must be said simply, for they are spoiled by bombast; whereas trivial things must be described grandly, for they are supported only by aptness of expression, tone and manner.

Duty is what goes most against the grain, because in doing that we do only what we are strictly obliged to, and are seldom much praised for it.

Next to sound judgment, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things in the world.

They that have lived a single day have lived an age.

Men make the best friends.

The finest pleasure is kindness to others.

The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interest to promote yours.

A vain man finds his account in speaking good or evil of himself.

We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ill of them while they are alive is dangerous, and when they are dead is cowardly.

A man of moderate Understanding, thinks he writes divinely: A man of good Understanding, thinks he writes reasonably.

Eminent station makes great men more great, and little ones less.

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness.

The same vices which are huge and insupportable in others we do not feel in ourselves.

An inconstant woman is one who is no longer in love; a false woman is one who is already in love with another person; a fickle woman is she who neither knows whom she loves nor whether she loves or not; and the indifferent woman, one who does not love at all.

One seeks to make the loved one entirely happy, or, if that cannot be, entirely wretched.

Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.

The noblest deeds are well enough set forth in simple language; emphasis spoils them.

The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored.

We must confess that at present the rich predominate, but the future will be for the virtuous and ingenious.

I take sanctuary in an honest mediocrity.

The same common sense which makes an author write good things, makes him dread they are not good enough to deserve reading.