Jean de La Bruyère, Les Caractères, XI.
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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 on Life

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "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." in the context of "Jean de La Bruyère, Les Caractères, XI." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Life" (Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations: Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 440-55.) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Jean de La Bruyère

About Jean de La Bruyère

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