Jean de La Bruyère Quotes (1645-1696)


About Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère (16 August 1645 – 10 May 1696) was a French essayist and moralist.

Jean de La Bruyère Quotes

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“La vie est une tragédie pour celui qui sent, et une comédie pour celui qui pense.”
“Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health and dissipate your property.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère Quotes by Topic

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Jean de La Bruyère on Friendship 4 quotes

“Love and friendship exclude each other.”
Jean de La Bruyère
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Jean de La Bruyère on Love 2 quotes

“Love begins with love.”
Jean de La Bruyère
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Jean de La Bruyère on Journalism 2 quotes

“The highest reach of a news-writer is an empty Reasoning on Policy, and vain Conjectures on the public Management.”
Jean de La Bruyère
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Jean de La Bruyère on Ageing 2 quotes

“L'on craint la vieillesse, que l'on n'est pas sûr de pouvoir atteindre. We dread old age, which we are not sure of being able to attain.”
Jean de La Bruyère
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Jean de La Bruyère on Eloquence 2 quotes

“Eloquence may be found in conversations and in all kinds of writings; it is rarely found when looked for, and sometimes discovered where it is least expected.”
Jean de La Bruyère
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Jean de La Bruyère on Time

“Time, which strengthens Friendship, weakens Love.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Senses

“If Poverty is the Mother of Crimes, want of Sense is the Father.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Liberalism

“Liberality consists less in giving a great deal than in gifts well timed.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Laughter

“We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Customs

“Great things astonish us, and small dishearten us. Custom makes both familiar.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Youth

“The greatest part of mankind employ their first years to make their last miserable.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Extremes

“Extremes are faulty and proceed from men: compensation is just, and proceeds from God.”

Jean de La Bruyère on Linguistics

“Languages are no more than the keys of Sciences. He who despises one, slights the other.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Wit

“He must be a dull Fellow indeed, whom neither Love, Malice, nor Necessity, can inspire with Wit.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Modesty

“Modesty is to merit, what shade is to figures in a picture; it gives it strength and makes it stand out.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Servility

“The same pride which makes a man treat haughtily his inferiors, makes him cringe servilely to those above him.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Ambition

“A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune, and favor cannot satisfy him.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Vices

“No vice exists which does not pretend to be more or less like some virtue, and which does not take advantage of this assumed resemblance.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Management

“An intelligent man neither allows himself to be controlled nor attempts to control others; he wishes reason alone to rule, and that always.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Intelligence

“An intelligent man neither allows himself to be controlled nor attempts to control others; he wishes reason alone to rule, and that always.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Refusal of work

“An intelligent man neither allows himself to be controlled nor attempts to control others; he wishes reason alone to rule, and that always.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Quotations

“'Twas not an Age ago since most of our Books were nothing but Collections of Latin Quotations; there was not above a line or two of French in a Page.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Idleness

“There is, however, nothing wanting to the idleness of a philosopher but a better name, and that meditation, conversation, and reading should be called “work.””
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Conversation

“There is, however, nothing wanting to the idleness of a philosopher but a better name, and that meditation, conversation, and reading should be called “work.””
Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère on Life

“La plupart des hommes emploient la première partie de leur vie à rendre l'autre misérable. Most men employ the first part of life to make the other part miserable.”
Jean de La Bruyère

What Jean de La Bruyère Said About Others

Discover personal opinions Jean de La Bruyère shared regarding contemporaries.

Jean de La Bruyère on Jean de La Fontaine

“We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all.”
Jean de La Bruyère

Quotes About Jean de La Bruyère

Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Jean de La Bruyère from others.

There are but three events on Jean de La Bruyère

“Il n'y a pour l'homme que trois événements: naître, vivre et mourir. Il ne se sent pas naître, il souffre à mourir, et il oublie de vivre.”

Lofty posts make great men greater still, and small men much smaller. on Jean de La Bruyère

“Ainsi les postes éminents rendent les grands hommes encore plus grands, et les petits beaucoup plus petits.”

Source on Jean de La Bruyère

“La plupart des hommes emploient la meilleure partie de leur vie à rendre l'autre misérable.”

Aphorism on Jean de La Bruyère

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

Preface on Jean de La Bruyère

“La Bruyère is not a speculative moralist, but an observer of the manners of men, or, as he likes to call himself, a philosopher, and above all a Christian philosopher.”

About Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère (16 August 1645 – 10 May 1696) was a French essayist and moralist.