JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE QUOTES
French philosopher and moralist (1645-1696)
He must be a dull Fellow indeed, whom neither Love, Malice, nor Necessity, can inspire with Wit.
JEAN DE LA BRUYERE
The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
When a man puts on a Character he is a stranger to, there's as much difference between what he appears, and what he is really in himself, as there is between a Vizor and a Face.
JEAN DE LA BRUYERE
The Characters or Manners of the Present Age
I am not surprised that there are gambling houses, like so many snares laid for human avarice; like abysses where many a man's money is engulfed and swallowed up without any hope of return; like frightful rocks against which the gamblers are thrown and perish.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères
Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.
JEAN DE LA BRUYERE
Les Caracteres
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.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
Let us not envy a certain class of men for their enormous riches; they have paid such an equivalent for them that it would not suit us; they have given for them their peace of mind, their health, their honour, and their conscience; this is rather too dear, and there is nothing to be made out of such a bargain.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères
To speak and to offend is with some people but one and the same thing.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Society and of Conversation", Les Caractères
Banter is often a proof of want of intelligence.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Society and of Conversation", Les Caractères
Among some people arrogance supplies the place of grandeur, inhumanity of decision, and roguery of intelligence.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Mankind", Les Caractères
To express truth is to write naturally, forcibly, and delicately.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
A man who knows how to make good bargains or finds his money increase in his coffers, thinks presently that he has a good deal of brains and is almost fit to be a statesman.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères
It is better to expose ourselves to ingratitude than to neglect our duty to the distressed.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
Women become attached to men through the favours they grant them, but men are cured of their love through those same favours.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Women", Les Caractères
Time, which strengthens friendship, weakens love.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
The true spirit of conversation consists more in bringing out the cleverness of others than in showing a great deal of it yourself.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Society and of Conversation", Les Caractères
If life be wretched, it is hard to bear it; if it be happy, it is horrible to lose it ; both come to the same thing.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Mankind", Les Caractères
The pleasure of criticism takes away from us the pleasure of being deeply moved by very fine things.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
Love has this in common with scruples, that it becomes embittered by the reflections and the thoughts that beset us to free ourselves.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
The lives of heroes have enriched history, and history has adorned the actions of heroes ; and thus I cannot say whether the historians are more indebted to those who provided them with such noble materials, or those great men to their historians.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our perplexity when alone.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères