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Jean de la Bruyere Quotes - Page 16

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There is a pleasure in meeting the glance of a person whom we have lately laid under some obligations.

There is a pleasure in meeting the glance of a person whom we have lately laid under some obligations.

Jean de la Bruyere
Pleasure, Glances, Obligation

To bewail the loss of a person we love is a happiness compared with the necessity of living with one we hate.

Jean de la Bruyere
Hate, Loss, Love Is

It takes talent to please the people in a sermon by a flowery style, a cheerful ethic, brilliant sallies and lively descriptions; but such a talent is inadequate. A better sort of talent neglects these extraneous ornaments, unworthy to be used in the service of the Gospel: such a preacher's sermon will be simple, strong and Christian.

Jean de la Bruyere
Christian, People, Style
"Of The Pulpit". "Characters", Book by Jean De La Bruyère, www.ourcivilisation.com. 1688.

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.

Jean de la Bruyere
Perfect, Reputation, Easy

Banter is often a proof of want of intelligence.

Jean de la Bruyere
Want, Proof, Banter

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

Jean de la Bruyere
Grief, Compassion, Mind

I am not surprised that men who put their trust in an atom should fail in their slightest attempts to plumb truth, that with such limited vision they cannot see beyond the sky and the stars to God Himself; that since they cannot discern the superiority of what is spiritual or the dignity of man's soul, they are even more unaware how hard it is to satisfy, how the whole earth is unworthy of it, how urgently it needs a supremely perfect being, who is God, and how indispensable to it is a religion which will lead it towards God and provide a sure pledge of Him.

Jean de la Bruyere
Stars, Men, Effort
"Of Freethinkers". "Characters", Book by Jean De La Bruyère, www.ourcivilisation.com. 1688.

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

Jean de la Bruyere
Thinking, Wish, Taste

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 Bruyere
Men, Thinking, Brain

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 Bruyere
Beautiful, Ideas, Moral

Courtly manners are contagious; they are caught at Versailles.

Jean de la Bruyere
Versailles, Manners, Caught

Love, slow and gradual in its growth, is too much like friendship ever to be a violent passion.

Jean de la Bruyere
Passion, Growth, Too Much

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

Jean de la Bruyere
Heart, Soul, Firsts

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

Jean de la Bruyere
Writing, Men, Thinking
"The Characters or Manners of the Present Age". Book by Jean de La Bruyère, Nicholas Rowe, Ch. I., 1688.

A man starts upon a sudden, takes Pen, Ink, and Paper, and without ever having had a thought of it before, resolves within himself he will write a Book; he has no Talent at Writing, but he wants fifty Guineas.

Jean de la Bruyere
Book, Writing, Men
"The Characters or Manners of the Present Age". Book by Jean de La Bruyère, Nicholas Rowe, Chapter XV, 1688.

Physiognomy is not a guide that has been given us by which to judge of the character of men: it may only serve us for conjecture. [Fr., La physionomie n'est pas une regle qui nous soit donnee pour juger des hommes; elle nous peut servir de conjecture.]

Jean de la Bruyere
Character, Men, Judging
"Les Caractères", XII, as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 97-106,

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.

Jean de la Bruyere
Children, Father, Giving

It is often easier as well as more advantageous to conform to other men's opinions than to bring them over to ours.

Jean de la Bruyere
Men, Opinion, Easier

What is certain in death is somewhat softened by what is uncertain; it is an indefiniteness in the time, which holds a certain relation to the infinite, and what is called eternity.

Jean de la Bruyere
Death, Infinite, Eternity

Make me chaste and To what excesses will men not go for the sake of a religion in which they believe so little and which they practice so imperfectly!

Jean de la Bruyere
God, Believe, Men

There is as much trickery required to grow rich by a stupid book as there is folly in buying it.

Jean de la Bruyere
Stupid, Book, Reading
"The "Characters" of Jean de la Bruyère". Book by Jean de La Bruyère. Translated by Henri Van Laun, 1885.

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

Jean de la Bruyere
Wrinkles, Age, Dresses

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.

Jean de la Bruyere
Self, Names, Employment

A heap of epithets is poor praise: the praise lies in the facts, and in the way of telling them.

Jean de la Bruyere
Lying, Way, Facts
"Of Books". "Characters", Book by Jean De La Bruyère, www.ourcivilisation.com. 1688.

There is nothing which continues longer than a moderate fortune; nothing of which one sees sooner the end than a large fortune.

Jean de la Bruyere
Ends, Fortune, Moderates

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