Jean de la Bruyere Life Quotations

There are only three events in a man's life; birth, life, and death; he is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live.

At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed to find themselves alone.

If our life is unhappy it is painful to bear; if it is happy it is horrible to lose, So the one is pretty equal to the other.

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness.

Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates.

We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together.

One seeks to make the loved one entirely happy, or, if that cannot be, entirely wretched.

They that have lived a single day have lived an age.

Men regret their life has been ill-spent, but this does not always induce them to make a better use of the time they have yet to live.

If this life is unhappy, it is a burden to us, which it is difficult to bear; if it is in every respect happy, it is dreadful to be deprived of it; so that in either case the result is the same, for we must exist in anxiety and apprehension.

A prince wants only the pleasure of private life to complete his happiness.

A long disease seems to be a halting place between life and death, that death itself may be a comfort to those who die and to those who are left behind.

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.

Most men employ the first part of life to make the other part miserable. [Fr., La plupart des hommes emploient la premiere part vie a rendre l'autre miserable.]

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

There are but three events which concern man: birth, life and death. They are unconscious of their birth, they suffer when they die, and they neglect to live.

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

Most men make use of the first part of their life to render the last part miserable.

When life is unhappy it is hard to endure, when it is happy it is terrible to think of it ending. Both amount to the same thing in the end.

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.

Life is short, if we are only said to live when we enjoy ourselves; and if we were merely to count up the hours we spent agreeably, a great number of years would hardly make up a life of a few months.

There is nothing men are so anxious to keep, and yet are so careless about, as life.