Jean De La Bruyere Quotes

Love receives its death-wound from aversion, and forgetfulness buries it.

A guilty man is punished as an example for the mob; an innocent man convicted is the business of every honest citizen.

A lofty birth or a large fortune portend merit, and cause it to be the sooner noticed.

We should only endeavour to think and speak correctly ourselves, without wishing to bring others over to our taste and opinions.

It is not so easy to obtain a reputation by a perfect work as to enhance the value of an indifferent one by a reputation already acquired.

A great mind is above insults, injustice, grief, and raillery, and would be invulnerable were it not open to compassion.

It is a fool's privilege to laugh at an intelligent man.

There are some extraordinary fathers, who seem, during the whole course of their lives, to be giving their children reasons for being consoled at their death.

The very essence of politeness seems to be to take care that by our words and actions we make other people pleased with us as well as with themselves.

It is a proof of boorishness to confer a favor with a bad grace; it is the act of giving that is hard and painful. How little does a smile cost?

Rarely do they appear great before their valets. [Fr., Rarement ils sont grands vis-a-vis de leur valets-de-chambre.]

The generality of men expend the early part of their lives in contributing to render the latter part miserable.

Jesting, often, only proves a want of intellect. [Fr., La moquerie est souvent une indigence d'esprit.]

Logic is the art of convincing us some truth.

A coxcomb is the blockhead's man of merit.

All the world says of a coxcomb that he is a coxcomb; but no one dares to say so to his face, and he dies without knowing it.

Dissimulation, even the most innocent in its nature, is ever productive of embarrassment; whether the design is evil or not artifice is always dangerous and almost inevitably disgraceful.

Some people pretend they never were in love and never wrote poetry; two weaknesses which they dare not own -- one of the heart, the other of the mind.

It is more or less rude to scorn indiscriminately all kinds of praise; we ought to be proud of that which comes from honest men, who praise sincerely those things in us which are really commendable.

To make a book is as much a trade as to make a clock; something more than intelligence is required to become an author.

It is a great misfortune not to possess sufficient wit to speak well, nor sufficient judgment to keep silent.

The best way to get on in the world is to make people believe it's to their advantage to help you.

It is weakness which makes us hate an enemy and seek revenge, and it is idleness that pacifies us and causes us to neglect it.

Intelligence is to genius as the whole is in proportion to its part. [Fr., Entre esprit et talent il y a la proportion du tout a sa partie.]

If you suppress the exorbitant love of pleasure and money, idle curiosity, iniquitous pursuits and wanton mirth, what a stillness would there be in the greatest cities.

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

Among some people arrogance supplies the place of grandeur, inhumanity of decision, and roguery of intelligence.

The finest and most beautiful ideas on morals and manners have been swept away before our times, and nothing is left for us but to glean after the ancients and the ablest amongst the moderns.

What the people call eloquence is the facility some persons have of speaking alone and for a long time, aided by extravagant gestures, a loud voice, and powerful lungs.

We never love with all our heart and all our soul but once, and that is the first time.

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

Liberality consists less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.

Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.

As long as men are liable to die and are desirous to live a physician will be made fun of but he will be well paid.

Those who make the worst use of their time most complain of its brevity.

There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it.

We must laugh before we are happy for fear of dying without having laughed at all.

It is a great misfortune neither to have enough wit to talk well nor enough judgement to be silent.

There is no business in the world so troublesome as the pursuit of fame: life is over before you have hardly begun your work.

There are but two ways of rising in the world: either by one's own industry or profiting by the foolishness of others.

Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present which seldom happens to us.

There are no ugly women there are only women who do not know how to look pretty.

There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.

Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank.

It is a sad thing when men have neither the wit to speak well nor the judgment to hold their tongues.

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

Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us.