Jean de la Bruyere Quotations

The sweetest of all sounds is that of the voice of the woman we love.

Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings.

The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored.

He who tip-toes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk.

All men's misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone.

There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.

All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone.

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.

When a work lifts your spirits and inspires bold and noble thoughts in you, do not look for any other standard to judge by: the work is good, the product of a master craftsman.

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.

It is a sad thing when men have neither the wit to speak well nor the judgment to hold their tongues.

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.

Next to sound judgment, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things in the world.

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

A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.

Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.

A man can keep another's secret better than his own. A woman her own better than others.

Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank.

Poverty may be the mother of crime, but lack of good sense is the father.

Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.

The regeneration of society is the regeneration of society by individual education.

Logic is the technique by which we add conviction to truth.

The pleasure we feel in criticizing robs us from being moved by very beautiful things.

Two quite opposite qualities equally bias our minds - habits and novelty.

It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men.

There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured, such as poetry, music, painting, public speaking.

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

The first day one is a guest, the second a burden, and the third a pest.

Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us.

A mediocre mind thinks it writes divinely; a good mind thinks it writes reasonably.

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

The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth.

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.

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.

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear of dying without having laughed at all.

A vain man finds it wise to speak good or ill of himself; a modest man does not talk of himself.

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

Politeness makes one appear outwardly as they should be within.

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all.

A man of the world must seem to be what he wishes to be thought.

It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not.

Men blush less for their crimes than for their weaknesses and vanity.

The court is like a palace of marble; it's composed of people very hard and very polished.

Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect.

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

The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.

A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.

No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends, as to give them no cause to miss him less.

This great misfortune, to be incapable of solitude.

We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ill of them while they are alive is dangerous, and when they are dead is cowardly.

When a book raises your spirit, and inspires you with noble and manly thoughts, seek for no other test of its excellence. It is good, and made by a good workman.

I would not like to see a person who is sober, moderate, chaste and just say that there is no God. They would speak disinterestedly at least, but such a person is not to be found.

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

Children enjoy the present because they have neither a past nor a future.

One mark of a second-rate mind is to be always telling stories.

The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle; it suggests the idea of one.

To be among people one loves, that's sufficient; to dream, to speak to them, to be silent among them, to think of indifferent things; but among them, everything is equal.

As favor and riches forsake a man, we discover in him the foolishness they concealed, and which no one perceived before.

A slave has but one master; an ambitious man has as many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position.

Even the best intentioned of great men need a few scoundrels around them; there are some things you cannot ask an honest ma to do.

Liberality consists less in giving a great deal than in gifts well-timed.

There is not in the world so toilsome a trade as the pursuit of fame; life concludes before you have so much as sketched your work.

If some persons died, and others did not die, death would be a terrible affliction.

We meet With few utterly dull and stupid souls: the sublime and transcendent are still fewer; the generality of mankind stand between these two extremes: the interval is filled with multitudes of ordinary geniuses, but all very useful, and the ornaments and supports of the commonwealth.

Politeness does not always inspire goodness, equity, complaisance, and gratitude; it gives at least the appearance of these qualities, and makes man appear outwardly, as he should be within.

It seems to me that the spirit of politeness is a certain attention in causing that, by our words and by our manners, others may be content with us and with themselves.

I do not doubt but that genuine piety is the spring of peace of mind; it enables us to bear the sorrows of life, and lessens the pangs of death: the same cannot be said of hypocrisy.

The fears of old age disturb us, yet how few attain it?

It is motive alone that gives real value to the actions of men, and disinterestedness puts the cap to it.

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.]

The favor of princes does not preclude the existence of merit, and yet does not prove that it exists. [Fr., La faveur des princes n'exclut pas le merite, et ne le suppose pas aussi.]

I am told so many ill things of a man, and I see so few in him, that I begin to suspect he has a real but troublesome merit, as being likely to eclipse that of others.

A man unattached and without wife, if he have any genius at all, may raise himself above his original position, may mingle with the world of fashion, and hold himself on a level with the highest; this is less easy for him who is engaged; it seems as if marriage put the whole world in their proper rank.

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.

To delay is injustice.

To express truth is to write naturally, forcibly, and delicately.

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

Among some people arrogance supplies the place of grandeur, inhumanity of decision, and roguery of intelligence.

When a plain-looking woman is loved, it is certain to be very passionately ; for either her influence on her lover is irresistible, or she has some secret and more irresistible charms than those of beauty.

I call those men worldly, earthly, or coarse, whose hearts and minds are wholly fixed on this earth, that small part of the universe they are placed in ; who value and love nothing beyond it ; whose minds are as cramped as that narrow spot of ground they call their estate, of which the extent is measured, the acres are numbered, and the limits well known.

It is no more in our power to love always than it was not to love at all.

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.

There exist some evils so terrible and some misfortunes so horrible that we dare not think of them, whilst their very aspect makes us shudder; but if they happen to fall on us, we find ourselves stronger than we imagined, we grapple with our ill luck, and behave better than we expected we should.

Friendship can exist between persons of different sexes, without any coarse or sensual feelings; yet a woman always looks upon a man as a man, and so a man will look upon a woman as a woman.

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

If men wish to be held in esteem, they must associate with those only who are estimable.

In art them is a point of perfection, as of goodness or maturity in nature; he who is able to perceive it, and who loves it, has perfect taste; he who does not feel it, or loves on this side or that, has an imperfect taste.

We dread old age, which are not sure of being able to attain. [Fr., L'on craint la vieillesse, que l'on n'est pas sur de pouvoir atteindre.]

He who has lived a day has lived an age.

A modest man never talks of himself.

Whatever is certain in death is slightly alleviated by what is not so infallible; the time when it shall happen is undefined, but it is more or less connected with the infinite, and what we call eternity.

There is what is called the highway to posts and honor, and there is a cross and by way, which is much the shortest.

Out of difficulties grow miracles.

A person's worth in this world is estimated according to the value he puts on himself.

Caprice in woman is the antidote to beauty.

A fool is one whom simpletons believe to be a man on merit. [Fr., Un fat celui que les sots croient un homme de merite.]

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.

The most delicate, the most sensible of all pleasures, consists in promoting the pleasure of others.

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