Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de La Bruyèrewas a French philosopher and moralist...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
CountryFrance
expression voice style
Great things only require to be simply told, for they are spoiled by emphasis; but little things should be clothed in lofty language, as they are only kept up by expression, tone of voice, and style of delivery.
versailles manners caught
Courtly manners are contagious; they are caught at Versailles.
passion growth too-much
Love, slow and gradual in its growth, is too much like friendship ever to be a violent passion.
long lovers behavior
For a long time visits among lovers and professions of love are kept up through habit, after their behavior has plainly proved that love no longer exists.
hard-work men play
Laziness begat wearisomeness, and this put men in quest of diversions, play and company, on which however it is a constant attendant; he who works hard, has enough to do with himself otherwise.
writing men thinking
A man of moderate Understanding, thinks he writes divinely: A man of good Understanding, thinks he writes reasonably.
conversation egotism subjects
Avoid making yourself the subject of conversation.
littles conversation cunning
Amongst such as out of cunning hear all and talk little, be sure to talk less; or if you must talk, say little.
challenges cost birth
High birth is a gift of fortune which should never challenge esteem towards those who receive it, since it costs them neither study nor labor.
sight voice lovely
A lovely countenance is the fairest of all sights, and the sweetest harmony is the sound of the voice of her whom we love.
cities curiosity mirth
If you suppress the exorbitant love of pleasure and money, idle curiosity, iniquitous pursuits and wanton mirth, what a stillness would there be in the greatest cities.
children happens neither nor seldom thus
Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us.
belief discovers french-writer god
The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.
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.