JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE QUOTES
French philosopher and moralist (1645-1696)
A faithless woman, if known to be such by the person concerned, is but faithless ; if she is believed faithful, she is treacherous.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Women", Les Caractères
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.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
attributed, Selected Thoughts from the French: XV Century-XX Century, with English Translations
Nothing resembles today so much as tomorrow.
JEAN DE LA BRUYERE
attributed, Day's Collacon
It is a fool's privilege to laugh at an intelligent man.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Society and of Conversation", Les Caractères
If poverty is the mother of all crimes, lack of intelligence is their father.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Mankind", Les Caractères
Sudden love takes the longest time to be cured.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
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 BRUYÈRE
"Of the Sovereign and the State", Les Caractères
False modesty is the last refinement of vanity.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
attributed, Day's Collacon
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 BRUYÈRE
"Of Personal Merit", Les Caractères
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 BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
A man who parades his piety is one who, under an atheist king, would be an atheist.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
Les Caractères ou les Moeurs de ce siecle
In the world there are only two ways of raising one's self, either by one's own industry or by the weakness of others.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
attributed, Forty Thousand Quotations
It is no more in our power to love always than it was not to love at all.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
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 BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères
The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle; it suggests the idea of one.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
Les Caractères ou les Moeurs de ce siecle
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 BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
There is no excess in the world so commendable as excessive gratitude.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
Nothing is easier for passion than to overcome reason, but the greatest triumph is to conquer a man's own interests.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
Nothing makes us better understand what trifling things Providence thinks He bestows on men in granting them wealth, money, dignities, and other advantages, than the manner in which they are distributed and the kind of men who have the largest share.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères