Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de La Bruyèrewas a French philosopher and moralist...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
CountryFrance
eye passion men
A man who knows the court is master of his gestures, of his eyes and of his face; he is profound, impenetratable; he dissimulates bad offices, smiles at his enemies, controls his irritation, disguises his passions, belies his heartm speaks and acts against his feelings.
rich virtuous ingenious
We must confess that at present the rich predominate, but the future will be for the virtuous and ingenious.
envy hatred together
Envy and hatred go together. Mutually strengthened by the fact pursue the same object.
stairs wit
I never have wit until I am below stairs. [Fr., Je n'ai jamais d'esprit qu'au bas de l'escalier.]
fruit widows ripe-fruit
Widows, like ripe fruit, drop easily from their perch.
age young prudence
When we are young we lay up for old age; when we are old we save for death.
running risk thrown
A good saying often runs the risk of being thrown away when quoted as the speaker's own. [Fr., C'est souvent hasarder un bon mot et vouloir le perdre que de le donner pour sien.]
mean people palaces
The court is like a palace built of marble; I mean that it is made up of very hard but very polished people. [Fr., La cour est comme un edifice bati de marbre; je veux dire qu'elle est composee d'hommes fort durs mais fort polis.]
self people amiable
The most amiable people are those who least wound the self-love of others.
self-love selfishness wish
We wish to constitute all the happiness, or, if that cannot be, the misery of the one we love.
heart people intellect
We are more sociable, and get on better with people by the heart than the intellect.
too-much speech littles
We rarely repent of speaking little, but often of speaking too much.
men littles great-men
Eminent station makes great men more great, and little ones less.
fall men order
Young people are dazzled by the brilliancy of antithesis, and employ it. Matter-of-fact men, and those who like precision, naturally fall into comparisons and metaphor. Sprightly natures, full of fire, and whom a boundless imagination carries beyond all rules, and even what is reasonable, cannot rest satisfied even with hyperbole. As for the sublime, it is only great geniuses and those of the very highest order that are able to rise to its height.