Best 365 quotes of Jean De La Bruyere on MyQuotes

Friendship * * * is a long time in forming, it is of slow growth, through many trials and months of familiarity.

From time to time there appear on the face of the earth men of rare and consummate excellence, who dazzle us by their virtue, and whose outstanding qualities shed a stupendous light. Like those extraordinary stars of whose origins we are ignorant, and of whose fate, once they have vanished, we know even less, such men have neither forebears nor descendants: they are the whole of their race.

Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.

Great things only require to be simply told, for they are spoiled by emphasis; but little things should be clothed in lofty language, as they are only kept up by expression, tone of voice, and style of delivery.

Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates.

Grief that is dazed and speechless is out of fashion: the modern woman mourns her husband loudly and tells you the whole story of his death, which distresses her so much that she forgets not the slightest detail about it.

Hatred is so lasting and stubborn, that reconciliation on a sickbed certainly forebodes death.

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.

He who excels in his art so as to carry it to the utmost height of perfection of which it is capable may be said in some measure to go beyond it: his transcendent productions admit of no appellations.

He who knows how to wait for what he desires does not feel very desperate if he fails in obtaining it; and he, on the contrary, who is very impatient in procuring a certain thing, takes so much pains about it, that, even when he is successful, he does not think himself sufficiently rewarded.

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.

He who will not listen to any advice, nor be corrected in his writings, is a rank pedant.

High birth is a gift of fortune which should never challenge esteem towards those who receive it, since it costs them neither study nor labor.

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!

How many men are like trees, already strong and full grown, which are transplanted into some gardens, to the astonishment of those people who behold them in these fine spots, where they never saw them grow, and who neither know their beginning nor their progress!

How much wit, good-nature, indulgences, how many good offices and civilities, are required among friends to accomplish in some years what a lovely face or a fine hand does in a minute!

How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude!

I am not surprised that men who put their trust in an atom should fail in their slightest attempts to plumb truth, that with such limited vision they cannot see beyond the sky and the stars to God Himself; that since they cannot discern the superiority of what is spiritual or the dignity of man's soul, they are even more unaware how hard it is to satisfy, how the whole earth is unworthy of it, how urgently it needs a supremely perfect being, who is God, and how indispensable to it is a religion which will lead it towards God and provide a sure pledge of Him.

I am not surprised that there are gambling houses, like so many snares laid for human avarice; like abysses where many a man's money is engulfed and swallowed up without any hope of return; like frightful rocks against which the gamblers are thrown and perish.

I am told so many ill things of a man, and I see so few in him, that I begin to suspect he has a real but troublesome merit, as being likely to eclipse that of others.

I call worldly or earthly those whose minds and hearts are fixed on a tiny portion of this world they live in, which is our earth; who respect and love nothing beyond it: people as limited as what they call their property or their estate, which can be measured, whose acres can be counted, whose boundaries can be shown.

I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture. MARTIN LUTHER, letter to Chancellor Gregory Brück, January 13, 1524 Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank.

I do not doubt but that genuine piety is the spring of peace of mind; it enables us to bear the sorrows of life, and lessens the pangs of death: the same cannot be said of hypocrisy.

If a handsome woman allows that another woman is beautiful, we may safely conclude she excels her.

If it be true that a man is rich who wants nothing, a wise man is a very rich man.

If it be usual to be strongly impressed by things that are scarce, why are we so little impressed by virtue?

If poverty is the mother of all crimes, lack of intelligence is the father.

If our life is unhappy it is painful to bear; if it is happy it is horrible to lose, So the one is pretty equal to the other.

If some persons died, and others did not die, death would be a terrible affliction.

If this life is unhappy, it is a burden to us, which it is difficult to bear; if it is in every respect happy, it is dreadful to be deprived of it; so that in either case the result is the same, for we must exist in anxiety and apprehension.

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.

If you suppress the exorbitant love of pleasure and money, idle curiosity, iniquitous pursuits and wanton mirth, what a stillness would there be in the greatest cities.

If you wish to be held in esteem, you must ssociate only with those who estimable.

In all conditions of life a poor man is a near neighbor to an honest one, and a rich man is as little removed from a knave.

In art them is a point of perfection, as of goodness or maturity in nature; he who is able to perceive it, and who loves it, has perfect taste; he who does not feel it, or loves on this side or that, has an imperfect taste.

Incivility is not a Vice of the Soul, but the effect of several Vices; of Vanity, Ignorance of Duty, Laziness, Stupidity, Distraction, Contempt of others, and Jealousy.

I never have wit until I am below stairs. [Fr., Je n'ai jamais d'esprit qu'au bas de l'escalier.]

In Friendship we only see those faults which may be prejudicial to our friends. In love we see no faults but those by which we suffer ourselves.

Intelligence is to genius as the whole is in proportion to its part. [Fr., Entre esprit et talent il y a la proportion du tout a sa partie.]

I take sanctuary in an honest mediocrity.

It is a fool's privilege to laugh at an intelligent man.

It is a great misfortune neither to have enough wit to talk well nor enough judgment to be silent.

It is a great misfortune not to possess sufficient wit to speak well, nor sufficient judgment to keep silent.

It is a proof of boorishness to confer a favor with a bad grace; it is the act of giving that is hard and painful. How little does a smile cost?

It is a sad thing when men have neither enough intelligence to speak well nor enough sense to hold their tongues; this is the root of all impertinence.

It is because of men that women dislike one another.

It is better to expose ourselves to ingratitude than to neglect our duty to the distressed.

It is boorish to live ungraciously: the giving is the hardest part; what does it cost to add a smile?

It is difficult for a proud man ever to forgive a person who has found him at fault, and who has good grounds for complaining of him; his pride is not assuaged till he has regained the advantages he lost and put the other person in the wrong.

It is easier to enrich ourselves with a thousand virtues, than to correct ourselves of a single fault.