Jean de La Bruyère Quotes

Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings.

Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker.

The passion of hatred is so long lived and so obstinate a malady that the surest sign of death in a ...

The most exquisite pleasure is giving pleasure to others.

A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.

There is no business in the world so troublesome as the pursuit of fame: life is over before you hav...

There are only three events in a man's life; birth, life, and death; he is not conscious of being bo...

A modest man never talks of himself.

It is a sad thing when men have neither the wit to speak well nor the judgment to hold their tongues...

Those who make the worst use of their time most complain of its brevity.

It is boorish to live ungraciously: the giving is the hardest part what does it cost to add a smile?...

Liberality consists less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.

There are but two ways of rising in the world: either by one's own industry or profiting by the fool...

The regeneration of society is the regeneration of society by individual education.

The sweetest of all sounds is that of the voice of the woman we love.

When a work lifts your spirits and inspires bold and noble thoughts in you, do not look for any othe...

Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate yo...

The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored.

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.

The pleasure of criticism takes away from us the pleasure of being deeply moved by very fine things.

The unnamed should not be mistaken for the nonexistent.

If some persons died and others did not die death would indeed be a terrible affliction.

The very essence of politeness is to take care that by our words and actions we make other people pl...

If poverty is the mother of all crimes, lack of intelligence is their father.

Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.

At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed to find themselves alone.

There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured, such as poetry, music, painting, ...

We must laugh before we are happy for fear of dying without having laughed at all.

Out of difficulties grow miracles.

He who has lived a day has lived an age.

We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ...

There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste there are no ...

Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present which seldom happens to us.

The pleasure of criticizing takes away from us the pleasure of being moved by some very fine things.

A man must have very eminent qualities to hold his own without being polite.

Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us.

A man often runs the risk of throwing away a witticism if he admits that it is his own.

Men blush less for their crimes than for their weaknesses and vanity.

A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.

The first day one is a guest, the second a burden, and the third a pest.

The nearer we come to great men the more clearly we see that they are only men. They rarely seem gre...

Love and friendship exclude each other.

All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone.

It is a great misfortune neither to have enough wit to talk well nor enough judgment to be silent.

All men's misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone.

As long as men are liable to die and are desirous to live a physician will be made fun of but he w...

It is a great misfortune neither to have enough wit to talk well nor enough judgement to be silent.

There are no ugly women there are only women who do not know how to look pretty.

There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing that from dread of losing ...

Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank.