Bruyere Quotes & Sayings

If a secret is revealed, the person who has confided it to another is to be blamed. — Jean De La Bruyere

Criticism is often not a science; it is a craft, requiring more good health than wit, more hard work than talent, more habit than native genius. In the hands of a man who has read widely but lacks judgment, applied to certain subjects it can corrupt both its readers and the writer himself. — Jean De La Bruyere

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

Let us not complain against men because otheir rudeness, their ingratitude, their injustice, their arrogance, their love oself, their forgetfulness oothers. They are so made. Such is their nature. — Jean De La Bruyere

To what excesses do men rush for the sake of religion, of whose truth they are so little persuaded, and to whose precepts they pay so little regard! — Jean De La Bruyere

When we have run through all forms of government, without partiality to that we were born under, we are at a loss with which to side; they are all a compound of good and evil. It is therefore most reasonable and safe to value that of our own country above all others, and to submit to it. — Jean De La Bruyere

To delay is injustice. — Jean De La Bruyere

Piety with some people, but especially with women, is either a passion, or an infirmity of age, or a fashion which must be followed. — Jean De La Bruyere

Banter is often a proof of want of intelligence. — Jean De La Bruyere

Cheats easily believe others as bad as themselves; there is no deceiving them, nor do they long deceive. — Jean De La Bruyere

The most amiable people are those who least wound the self-love of others. — Jean De La Bruyere

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

All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone. — Jean De La Bruyere

The court is like a palace built of marble; I mean that it is made up of very hard but very polished people. — Jean De La Bruyere

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. — Jean De La Bruyere

Liberality consists less in giving a great deal than in gifts well-timed. — Jean De La Bruyere

Children enjoy the present because they have neither a past nor a future. — Jean De La Bruyere

We ought not to make those people our enemies who might have become our friends, if we had only known them better. — Jean De La Bruyere

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

Favor exalts a man above his equals, but his dismissal from that favor places him below them. — Jean De La Bruyere

Impertinent wits are a kind of insect which are in everybody's way and plentiful in all countries. — Jean De La Bruyere

A man who knows the court is master of his gestures, of his eyes and of his face; he is profound, impenetratable; he dissimulates bad offices, smiles at his enemies, controls his irritation, disguises his passions, belies his heartm speaks and acts against his feelings. — Jean De La Bruyere

We trust our secrets to our friends, but they escape from us in love. — Jean De La Bruyere

If women were by nature what they make themselves by art; if they were to lose suddenly all the freshness of their complexion, and their faces to become as fiery and as leaden as they make them with the red and the paint they besmear themselves with, they would consider themselves the most wretched creatures on earth. — Jean De La Bruyere

Tyranny has no need of arts or sciences, for its policy, which is very shallow and without any refinement, only consists in shedding blood. — Jean De La Bruyere

Children are overbearing, supercilious, passionate, envious, inquisitive, egotistical, idle, fickle, timid, intemperate, liars, and dissemblers; they laugh and weep easily, are excessive in their joys and sorrows, and that about the most trifling objects; they bear no pain, but like to inflict it on others; already they are men. — Jean De La Bruyere

The pleasure of criticism takes away from us the pleasure of being deeply moved by very fine things. — Jean De La Bruyere

We come too late to say anything which has not been said already. — Jean De La Bruyere

A lofty birth or a large fortune portend merit, and cause it to be the sooner noticed. — Jean De La Bruyere

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

A man of the world must seem to be what he wishes to be thought. — Jean De La Bruyere

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. — Jean De La Bruyere

The very essence of politeness is 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

The generality of men expend the early part of their lives in contributing to render the latter part miserable. — Jean De La Bruyere

High birth is a gift of fortune which should never challenge esteem towards those who receive it, since it costs them neither study nor labor. — Jean De La Bruyere

Don't wait to be happy to laugh ... You may die and never have laughed. — Jean De La Bruyere

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

Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property. — Jean De La Bruyere

In all conditions of life a poor man is a near neighbor to an honest one, and a rich man is as little removed from a knave. — Jean De La Bruyere

Both as to high and low indifferently, men are prepossessed, charmed, fascinated by success; successful crimes are praised very much like virtue itself, and good fortune is not far from occupying the place of the whole cycle of virtues. It must be an atrocious act, a base and hateful deed, which success would not be able to justify. — Jean De La Bruyere

It would be a kind of ferocity to reject indifferently all sorts of praise. One should be glad to have that which comes from good men who praise in sincerity things that are really praiseworthy. — Jean De La Bruyere

Amongst such as out of cunning hear all and talk little, be sure to talk less; or if you must talk, say little. — Jean De La Bruyere

The most exquisite pleasure is giving pleasure to others. — Jean De La Bruyere

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

The unnamed should not be mistaken for the nonexistent. — Jean De La Bruyere

They that have lived a single day have lived an age. — Jean De La Bruyere

Party loyalty lowers the greatest men to the petty level of the masses. — Jean De La Bruyere

It is a great misfortune neither to have enough wit to talk well nor enough judgment to be silent. — Jean De La Bruyere

A modest man never talks of himself. — Jean De La Bruyere

When we are young we lay up for old age; when we are old we save for death. — Jean De La Bruyere

Envy and hatred go together. Mutually strengthened by the fact pursue the same object. — Jean De La Bruyere

We are valued in this world at the rate we desire to be valued. — Jean De La Bruyere

The News-writer lies down at Night in great Tranquillity, upon a piece of News which corrupts before Morning, and which he is obliged to throw away as soon as he awakes. — Jean De La Bruyere

Languages are the keys of science. — Jean De La Bruyere

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 Bruyere

It is a great misfortune not to possess sufficient wit to speak well, nor sufficient judgment to keep silent. — Jean De La Bruyere

Great things only require to be simply told, for they are spoiled by emphasis; but little things should be clothed in lofty language, as they are only kept up by expression, tone of voice, and style of delivery. — Jean De La Bruyere

He who knows how to wait for what he desires does not feel very desperate if he fails in obtaining it; and he, on the contrary, who is very impatient in procuring a certain thing, takes so much pains about it, that, even when he is successful, he does not think himself sufficiently rewarded. — Jean De La Bruyere

Extremes are vicious, and proceed from men; compensation is just, and proceeds from God. — Jean De La Bruyere

The great gift of conversation lies less in displaying it ourselves than in drawing it out of others. He who leaves your company pleased with himself and his own cleverness is perfectly well pleased with you. — Jean De La Bruyere

Sudden love takes the longest time to be cured. — Jean De La Bruyere

No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends, as to give them no cause to miss him less. — Jean De La Bruyere

We hope to grow old and we dread old age; that is to say, we love life and we flee from death. — Jean De La Bruyere

The beginning and the end of love are both marked by embarrassment when the two find themselves alone.
[Fr., Le commencement et le declin de l'amour se font sentir par l'embarras ou l'on est de se trouver seuls.] — Jean De La Bruyere

The State not seldom tolerates a comparatively great evil to keep out millions of lesser ills and inconveniences which otherwise would be inevitable and without remedy. — Jean De La Bruyere

One must laugh before one is happy, or one may die without ever laughing at all. — Jean De La Bruyere

Praise, of all things, is the most powerful excitement to commendable actions, and animates us in our enterprises. — Jean De La Bruyere

Outward simplicity befits ordinary men, like a garment made to measure for them; but it serves as an adornment to those who have filled their lives with great deeds: they might be compared to some beauty carelessly dressed and thereby all the more attractive. — Jean De La Bruyere

No road is to long for him who advances slowly and does not hurry and no attainment is beyond his reach who equips himself with patience to achieve it — Jean De La Bruyere

False modesty is the masterpiece of vanity: showing the vain man in such an illusory light that he appears in the reputation of the virtue quite opposite to the vice which constitutes his real character; it is a deceit. — Jean De La Bruyere

Time, which strengthens friendship, weakens love. — Jean De La Bruyere

For a long time visits among lovers and professions of love are kept up through habit, after their behavior has plainly proved that love no longer exists. — Jean De La Bruyere

I am not astonished that men who lean, as it were, on an atom, should stumble at the smallest efforts they make for discovering the truth ; that, being so short-sighted, they do not reach beyond the heavens and the stars, to contemplate God Himself. — Jean De La Bruyere

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. — Jean De La Bruyere

The Great slight the men of wit, who have nothing but wit; the men of wit despise the Great, who have nothing but greatness; the good man pities them both, if with greatness or wit they have not virtue. — Jean De La Bruyere

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

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. — Jean De La Bruyere

Caprice in woman is the antidote to beauty. — Jean De La Bruyere

There is a false modesty, which is vanity; a false glory, which is levity; a false grandeur, which is meanness; a false virtue, which is hypocrisy, and a false wisdom, which is prudery. — Jean De La Bruyere

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. — Jean De La Bruyere

During the course of our life we now and then enjoy some pleasures so inviting, and have some encounters of so tender a nature, that though they are forbidden, it is but natural to wish that they were at least allowable. Nothing can be more delightful, except it be to abandon them for virtue's sake. — Jean De La Bruyere

The pleasure a man of honor enjoys in the consciousness of having performed his duty is a reward he pays himself for all his pains. — Jean De La Bruyere

It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men. — Jean De La Bruyere

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

To how many girls has a great beauty been of no other use but to make them expect a large fortune! — Jean De La Bruyere

We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together. — Jean De La Bruyere

The nearer we approach great men, the clearer we see that they are men. — Jean De La Bruyere

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

A show of a certain amount of honesty is in any profession or business the surest way of growing rich. — Jean De La Bruyere

We are afraid of the old age which we may never attain. — Jean De La Bruyere

He who tip-toes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk. — Jean De La Bruyere

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. — Jean De La Bruyere

Out of difficulties, grow miracles — Jean De La Bruyere

A man is rich whose income is larger than his expenses, and he is poor if his expenses are greater than his income. — Jean De La Bruyere

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. — Jean De La Bruyere

The same principle leads us to neglect a man of merit that induces us to admire a fool.
[Fr., Du meme fonds dont on neglige un homme de merite l'on sait encore admirer un sot.] — Jean De La Bruyere

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

A man reveals his character even in the simplest things he does. — Jean De La Bruyere

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. — Jean De La Bruyere

Life is short and tedious, and is wholly spent in wishing; we trust to find rest and enjoyment at some future time, often at an age when our best blessings, youth and health, have already left us. When at last I that time has arrived, it surprises us in the midst of fresh desires; we have got no farther when we are attacked by a fever which kills us; if we had been cured, it would only have been to give us more time for other desires. — Jean De La Bruyere