French philosopher and moralist (1645-1696)
There is nothing men are so anxious to keep, and yet are so careless about, as life.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Mankind", Les Caractères
A man who has schemed for some time can no longer do without it; all other ways of living are to him dull and insipid.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Court", Les Caractères
It is often easier as well as more advantageous to conform ourselves to other men's opinions than to bring them over to ours.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Society and of Conversation", Les Caractères
A preacher must have some intelligence to charm the people by his florid style, by his exhilarating system of morality, by the repetition of his figures of speech, his brilliant remarks and vivid descriptions ; but, after all, he has not too much of it, for if he possessed some of the right quality he would neglect these extraneous ornaments, unworthy of the Gospel, and preach naturally, forcibly, and like a Christian.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Pulpit", Les Caractères
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 BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
All the worth of some people lies in their name; upon a closer inspection it dwindles to nothing, but from a distance it deceives us.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Personal Merit", Les Caractères
Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
There are few wives so perfect as not to give their husbands at least once a day good reason to repent of ever having married, or at least of envying those who are unmarried.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Women", Les Caractères
The fear of old age disturbs us, yet we are not certain of becoming old.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Mankind", Les Caractères
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 BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
When, after having read a work, loftier thoughts arise in your mind and noble and heartfelt feelings animate you, do not look for any other rule to judge it by; it is fine and written in a masterly manner.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
We confide our secret to a friend, but in love it escapes us.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
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 BRUYÈRE
"Of Women", Les Caractères
It is a sad thing when men have neither enough intelligence to speak well nor enough sense to hold their tongues.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Society and of Conversation", Les Caractères
Nothing keeps longer than a middling fortune, and nothing melts away sooner than a large one.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères
He who only writes to suit the taste of the age, considers himself more than his writings. We should always aim at perfection, and then posterity will do us that justice which sometimes our contemporaries refuse us.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
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 BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères
There are but two ways of rising in the world, either by your own industry or by the folly of others.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères
False greatness is unsociable and remote: conscious of its own frailty, it hides, or at least averts its face, and reveals itself only enough to create an illusion and not be recognized as the meanness that it really is. True greatness is free, kind, familiar and popular; it lets itself be touched and handled, it loses nothing by being seen at close quarters; the better one knows it, the more one admires it.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Personal Merit", Les Caractères
We never deceive people to benefit them, for knavery is a compound of wickedness and falsehood.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Mankind", Les Caractères