Jean de la Bruyere Quotes (106 Quotes)

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

Time, which strengthens friendship, weakens love.

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.

Love and friendship exclude each other.

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

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

We come too late to say anything which has not been said already.

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

We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together.

If I had my life to live over I'd like to make more mistakes next time. I'd relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual trouble, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. You see, I'm one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

If some men died and others did not, death would indeed be a most mortifying evil.

He is rich whose income is more than his expenses And he is poor whose expenses exceed his income.

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.

It is fortunate to come of distinguished ancestry.- It is not less so to be such that people do not care to inquire whether you are of high descent or not.

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

Making a book is a craft, as is making a clock it takes more than wit to become an author.

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

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.

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 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.

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

Between good sense and good taste there is the same difference as between cause and effect.

Everything has been said, and we are more than seven thousand years of human thought too late.

Eloquence is to the sublime what the part is to the whole.

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

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

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

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

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

This great misfortune - to be incapable of solitude.

How happy the station which every moment furnishes opportunities of doing good to thousands How dangerous that which every moment exposes to the injuring of millions.

Love begins with love.

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

Man has but three events in his life: to be born, to live, and to die. He is not conscious of his birth, he suffers at his death and he forgets to live.

False modesty is the refinement of vanity. It is a lie.

He who can wait for what he desires takes the course not to be exceedingly grieved if he fails of it he, on the contrary, who labors after a thing too impatiently thinks the success when it comes is not a recompense equal to all the pains he has been at about it.

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.

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

Modesty is to merit, what shade is to figures in a picture it gives it strength and makes it stand out.

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.

After a spirit of discernment the next rarest things in the world are diamonds and pearls.

To laugh at men of sense is the privilege of fools.

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

The most amiable people are those who least wound the self-love of others.