Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de La Bruyèrewas a French philosopher and moralist...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
CountryFrance
real men merit
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.
favors merit doe
The favor of princes does not preclude the existence of merit, and yet does not prove that it exists. [Fr., La faveur des princes n'exclut pas le merite, et ne le suppose pas aussi.]
men fool merit
The same principle leads us to neglect a man of merit that induces us to admire a fool. [Fr., Du meme fonds dont on neglige un homme de merite l'on sait encore admirer un sot.]
giving shade merit
Modesty is to merit, what shade is to figures in a picture; it gives it strength and makes it stand out.
writing men merit
It is the glory and merit of some men to write well and of others not to write at all.
merit alive reputation
When we are dead we are praised by those who survive us, though we frequently have no other merit than that of being no longer alive.
causes merit birth
A lofty birth or a large fortune portend merit, and cause it to be the sooner noticed.
men merit blockheads
A coxcomb is the blockhead's man of merit.
ambitious french-philosopher man masters people useful
A slave has but one master; an ambitious man has as many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position.
french-philosopher man miss necessary
No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends, as to give them no cause to miss him less.
belief discovers french-writer god
The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.
fear laugh laughed
We must laugh before we are happy, for fear of dying without having laughed at all.
children happens neither nor seldom thus
Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us.
atheist kings men
A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.