Jean de la Bruyère (16 August 1645 – 11 May 1696) was a French philosopher and moralist, who was noted for his satire. These Jean De La Bruyere quotes will inspire you in life.
Best Jean De La Bruyere Quotes
- “Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.” ― Jean de La Bruyère
- “The unnamed should not be mistaken for the nonexistent.” ―
- “If poverty is the mother of all crimes, lack of intelligence is their father.” ―
- “As favor and riches forsake a man, we discover in him the foolishness they concealed, and which no one perceived before.” ―
- “Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other’s little failings.” ― Jean de La Bruyère
- “Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.” ― La Bruyere, Jean De La Bruyere quotes about life
- “We are afraid of the old age which we may never attain.” ―
- “Most men make use of the first part of their life to render the last part miserable.” ―
- “The pleasure of criticizing takes away from us the pleasure of being moved by some very fine things.” ― Jean De La Bruyere
- “Such a great misfortune, not to be able to be alone.” ― Jean de La Bruyère
- “A person’s worth in this world is estimated according to the value they put on themselves.” ―
- “Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.” ―
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“To laugh at men of sense is the privilege of fools.” ―
- “If some persons died and others did not die death would indeed be a terrible affliction.” ―
- “Out of difficulties, grow miracles” ―
- “Not to be able to bear with all bad-tempered people with whom the world is crowded, shows that a man has not a good temper himself.” ―
- “The same principle leads us to neglect a man of merit that induces us to admire a fool.” ―
- “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.” ―
- “Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness. ” ―
- “The most exquisite pleasure is giving pleasure to others.” ―
- “A man is rich whose income is larger than his expenses, and he is poor if his expenses are greater than his income.” ―
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“Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates.” ―
- “Many people perceive the merit of a manuscript which is read to them, but will not declare themselves in its favor until they see what success it has in the world when printed, or what intelligent men will say about it. They do not like to risk their opinion, and they want to be carried away by the crowd and dragged along by the multitude. Then they say that they were amongst the first who approved of that work, and the general public shares their opinion.
Such men lose the best opportunities of convincing us that they are intelligent, clever, and first-rate critics, and can really discover what is good and what is better. A fine work falls into their hands; it is an author’s first book before he has got any great name; there is nothing to prepossess anyone in his favor, and by applauding his writings one does not court or flatter the great. Zelotes, you are not required to cry out: “This is a masterpiece; human intelligence never went farther; the human speech cannot soar higher; henceforward we will judge of no one’s taste but by what he thinks of this book.” Such exaggerated and offensive expressions are only employed by postulants for pensions or benefices and are even injurious to what is really commendable and what one wishes to praise. Why not merely say—“That’s a good book?” It is true you say it when the whole of France has approved of it, and foreigners as well as your own countrymen, when it is printed all over Europe and has been translated into several languages, but then it is too late.” ― -
“Time, which strengthens friendship, weakens love.” ―
- “If it is true that one is poor on account of all the things one wants, the ambitious and the avaricious languish in extreme poverty.” ―
- “A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune, and favor cannot satisfy him.” ―
- “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.” ―
- “The great charm of conversation consists less in the display of one’s own wit and intelligence than in the power to draw forth the resources of others; he who leaves you after a long conversation, pleased with himself and the part he has taken in the discourse, will be your warmest admirer. Men do not care to admire you, they wish you to be pleased with them; they do not seek for instruction or even amusement from your discourse, but they do wish you to be made acquainted with their talents and powers of conversation, and the true man of genius will delicately make all who come in contact with him feel the exquisite satisfaction of knowing that they have appeared to advantage.” ―
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“We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together.” ―
- “A fool is an automaton, a machine with springs which turn him about always in one manner and preserve his equilibrium. He is ever the same and never changes. If you have seen him once you have seen him at every moment and period of his life. He is at best but as the lowing ox or the whistling blackbird. He is fixed and obstinate, I may say, by nature. What appears least in him is his soul; that has neither activity nor energy; it reposes.” ―
- “That man is good who does good to others; if he suffers on account of the good he does, he is very good; if he suffers at the hands of those to whom he has done good, then his goodness is so great that it could be enhanced only by greater sufferings; and if he should die at their hands, his virtue can go no further: it is heroic, it is perfect” ―
- “The very essence of politeness is to take care that by our words and actions we make other people pleased with us as well as with themselves.” ―
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“Everything has been said, and we are more than seven thousand years of human thought too late.” ―
- “One seeks to make the loved one entirely happy, or, if that cannot be, entirely wretched.” ―
- “We should only endeavor to think and speak correctly ourselves, without wishing to bring others over to our taste and opinions; this would be too great an undertaking.” ―
- “That we seldom repent of talking too little and very often of talking too much is a … maxim that everybody knows and nobody practices” ―
- “We keep a special place in our hearts for people who refuse to be impressed by us.” ―
- “Sudden love takes the longest time to be cured.” ―
- “Novice exists which does not pretend to be more or less like some virtue, and which does not take advantage of this assumed resemblance.” ―
- “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.” ―
