Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de La Bruyèrewas a French philosopher and moralist...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
CountryFrance
friendship men perfect
No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends as to give them no cause to miss him less.
greatness small-person great-person
A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.
being-alone being-sad inability
All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone.
love life dream
At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed to find themselves alone.
men innocent-person criminals
The punishment of a criminal is an example to the rabble; but every decent man is concerned if an innocent person is condemned.
loss sacrifice men
Let us not envy some men their accumulated riches; their burden would be too heavy for us; we could not sacrifice, as they do, health, quiet, honor and conscience, to obtain them: It is to pay so dear from them that the bargain is a loss.
long fool disappear
The fool only is troublesome. A plan of sense perceives when he is agreeable or tiresome; he disappears the very minute before he would have been thought to have stayed too long.
men hands perfect
That man is good who does good to others; if he suffers on account of the good he does, he is very good; if he suffers at the hands of those to whom he has done good, then his goodness is so great that it could be enhanced only by greater sufferings; and if he should die at their hands, his virtue can go no further: it is heroic, it is perfect.
friendship forgiveness two-friends
Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings.
silence judgment silent
It is a great misfortune neither to have enough wit to talk well nor enough judgment to be silent.
time children future
Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do.
love dream laughter
We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all.
life pain men
There are only three events in a man's life; birth, life, and death; he is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live.
life regret men
Men regret their life has been ill-spent, but this does not always induce them to make a better use of the time they have yet to live.