Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de La Bruyèrewas a French philosopher and moralist...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
CountryFrance
knowing world faces
All the world says of a coxcomb that he is a coxcomb; but no one dares to say so to his face, and he dies without knowing it.
passion wrinkles years
A coquette is one that is never to be persuaded out of the passion she has to please, nor out of a good opinion of her own beauty: time and years she regards as things that only wrinkle and decay other women, forgetting that age is written in the face, and that the same dress which became her when she was young now only makes her look older.
caprice decency
Caprice in women often infringes upon the rules of decency.
men dignity great-men
The nearer we approach great men, the clearer we see that they are men.
strong men garden
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!
news management journalism
The highest reach of a news-writer is an empty Reasoning on Policy, and vain Conjectures on the public Management.
men merit blockheads
A coxcomb is the blockhead's man of merit.
men vanity weakness
Men blush less for their crimes than for their weaknesses and vanity. [Fr., Les hommes rougissent moins de leur crimes que de leurs faiblesses et de leur vanite.]
want pleasure private-life
A prince wants only the pleasure of private life to complete his happiness.
evil design innocent
Dissimulation, even the most innocent in its nature, is ever productive of embarrassment; whether the design is evil or not artifice is always dangerous and almost inevitably disgraceful.
morning lying night
The News-writer lies down at Night in great Tranquillity, upon a piece of News which corrupts before Morning, and which he is obliged to throw away as soon as he awakes.
years lasts firsts
The greatest part of mankind employ their first years to make their last miserable.
men going-away blockheads
A blockhead cannot come in, nor go away, nor sit, nor rise, nor stand, like a man of sense.
success two world
There are but two ways of rising in the world: either by one's own industry or profiting by the foolishness of others. [Fr., Il n'y a au monde que deux manieres de s'elever, ou par sa propre industrie, ou par l'imbecilite des autres.]