Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de La Bruyèrewas a French philosopher and moralist...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
CountryFrance
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.]
loyalty party men
Party loyalty lowers the greatest men to the petty level of the masses.
expression sublime mind
The sublime only paints the true, and that too in noble objects; it paints it in all its phases, its cause and its effect; it is the most worthy expression or image of this truth. Ordinary minds cannot find out the exact expression, and use synonymes.
running country loss
When we have run through all forms of government, without partiality to that we were born under, we are at a loss with which to side; they are all a compound of good and evil. It is therefore most reasonable and safe to value that of our own country above all others, and to submit to it.
real character men
False modesty is the masterpiece of vanity: showing the vain man in such an illusory light that he appears in the reputation of the virtue quite opposite to the vice which constitutes his real character; it is a deceit.
loneliness spring being-alone
All men's misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone.
life hate grief
Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates.
mediocrity speech painting
There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid speech being pompously declaimed, or second-rate verse spoken with all a bad poet's bombast!
life pain unhappy
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.
spring ignorance vanity
Discourtesy does not spring merely from one bad quality, but from several--from foolish vanity, from ignorance of what is due to others, from indolence, from stupidity, from distraction of thought, from contempt of others, from jealousy.
property all-things lawsuit
Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.