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Jean de la Bruyere Quotes - Page 14

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Women are extreme; they are better than men, or worse.

Women are extreme; they are better than men, or worse.

Jean de la Bruyere
Running, Men, Extremes
"Of Women". "Characters", Book by Jean De La Bruyère, www.ourcivilisation.com. 1688.

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.

Jean de la Bruyere
Death, Hate, Passion

Genius and great abilities are often wanting; sometimes, only opportunities. Some deserve praise for what they have done; others for what they would have done.

Jean de la Bruyere
Opportunity, Genius, Done

Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life. It is only found in men of sound sense and understanding.

Jean de la Bruyere
Men, Perfection, Understanding

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.

Jean de la Bruyere
Friendship, Suffering, May

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.

Jean de la Bruyere
Work, Ambition, Men

We should laugh before being happy, for fear of dying without having laughed.

Jean de la Bruyere
Happiness, Happy, Laughing
"Of the Heart". "Characters", Book by Jean De La Bruyère, www.ourcivilisation.com. 1688.

There are three great events in our lives: birth, life and death. Of birth we have no conscience; with death, we suffer; and, concerning life, we forget to live it.

Jean de la Bruyere
Birth Life And Death, Suffering, Events

Love and friendship exclude each other.

Jean de la Bruyere
Love, Friendship, Love And Friendship

People reveal their character even in the simplest things they do. Fools do not enter a room, nor leave it, nor sit down, nor rise, nor are they silent, nor do they stand up, like people of sense and understanding.

Jean de la Bruyere
Character, People, Understanding

The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discloses to me His existence. [Fr., L'impossibilite ou je suis de prouver que Dieu n'est pas, me decouvre son existence.]

Jean de la Bruyere
God, Son, Existence

Men are the cause of women not loving one another. [Fr., Les hommes sont la cause que les femmes ne s'aiment point.]

Jean de la Bruyere
Jealousy, Men, Causes

Languages are the keys of science.

Jean de la Bruyere
Keys, Language

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.

Jean de la Bruyere
Essence, People, Our Words
"Characters: Of Society and Conversation #32", 1688.

Life is a kind of sleep: old men sleep longest, nor begin to wake but when they are to die.

Jean de la Bruyere
Life, Sleep, Men

A wise man is not governed by others, nor does he try to govern them; he prefers that reason alone prevail.

Jean de la Bruyere
Wise, Men, Trying

The court is like a palace built of marble; I mean that it is made up of very hard but very polished people. [Fr., La cour est comme un edifice bati de marbre; je veux dire qu'elle est composee d'hommes fort durs mais fort polis.]

Jean de la Bruyere
Mean, People, Palaces
"Characters", VIII, 1688.

I never have wit until I am below stairs. [Fr., Je n'ai jamais d'esprit qu'au bas de l'escalier.]

Jean de la Bruyere
Stairs, Wit

Every hour in itself, as it respects us in particular, is the only one we can call our own.

Jean de la Bruyere
Time, Hours, Particular

Criticism is as often a trade as a science, requiring, as it does, more health than wit, more labour than capacity, more practice than genius.

Jean de la Bruyere
Science, Practice, Criticism

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

Jean de la Bruyere
Men, Vanity, Evil

The opposite of what is noised about concerning men and things is often the truth. [Fr., Le contraire des bruits qui courent des affaires ou des personnes est souvent la verite.]

Jean de la Bruyere
Truth, Men, Opposites

It requires more than mere genius to be an author.

Jean de la Bruyere
Writing, Genius, Mere
"The "Characters" of Jean de la Bruyère". "Of the Works of the Spirit". Book by Jean de la Bruyère. Translated by Henri Van Laun, 1885.

Nothing more clearly shows how little God esteems his gift to men of wealth, money, position and other worldly goods, than the way he distributes these, and the sort of men who are most amply provided with them.

Jean de la Bruyere
Funny, Money, Men
"Of Worldly Goods", Aphorism 24,

When a secret is revealed, it is the fault of the man who confided it.

Jean de la Bruyere
Men, Secret, Faults
"Characters", V, 1688.

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