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There is a false modesty, which is vanity a false glory, which is levity a false grandeur, which is meanness a false virtue, which is hypocrisy, and a false wisdom, which is prudery.

Jean de la Bruyere

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Jean de la Bruyere
Age: 50 †
Born: 1645
Born: August 16
Died: 1696
Died: May 10
Aphorist
Essayist
French Moralist
Lawyer
Philosopher
Translator
Writer
Paris
France
Jean de La Bruyere
Vanity
False
Glory
Prudery
Virtue
Levity
Wisdom
Meanness
Grandeur
Modesty
Hypocrisy

More quotes by Jean de la Bruyere

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To make a book is as much a trade as to make a clock something more than intelligence is required to become an author.
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It is through madness that we hate an enemy, and think of revenging ourselves and it is through indolence that we are appeased, and do not revenge ourselves.
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A simple garb is the proper costume of the vulgar it is cut for them, and exactly suits their measure, but it is an ornament for those who have filled up their lives with great deeds. I liken them to beauty in dishabille, but more bewitching on that account.
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For a woman to be at once a coquette and a bigot is more than the humblest of husbands can bear she should mercifully choose between the two.
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If men wish to be held in esteem, they must associate with those only who are estimable.
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When, after having read a work, loftier thoughts arise in your mind and noble and heartfelt feelings animate you, do not look for any other rule to judge it by it is fine and written in a masterly manner.
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Great things astonish us, and small dishearten us. Custom makes both familiar.
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Love seizes us suddenly, without giving warning, and our disposition or our weakness favors the surprise one look, one glance, from the fair fixes and determines us.
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It is too much for a husband to have a wife who is a coquette and sanctimonious as well she should select only one of those qualities.
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Logic is the art of making truth prevail.
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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.
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An assembly of the states, a court of justice, shows nothing so serious and grave as a table of gamesters playing very high a melancholy solicitude clouds their looks envy and rancor agitate their minds while the meeting lasts, without regard to friendship, alliances, birth or distinctions.
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Most men spend the first half of their lives making the second half miserable.
Jean de la Bruyere
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We are more sociable, and get on better with people by the heart than the intellect.
Jean de la Bruyere
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Genius and great abilities are often wanting sometimes, only opportunities. Some deserve praise for what they have done others for what they would have done.
Jean de la Bruyere
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Caprice in woman is the antidote to beauty.
Jean de la Bruyere
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Physiognomy is not a guide that has been given us by which to judge of the character of men: it may only serve us for conjecture. [Fr., La physionomie n'est pas une regle qui nous soit donnee pour juger des hommes elle nous peut servir de conjecture.]
Jean de la Bruyere
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The beginning and the end of love are both marked by embarrassment when the two find themselves alone. [Fr., Le commencement et le declin de l'amour se font sentir par l'embarras ou l'on est de se trouver seuls.]
Jean de la Bruyere
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A guilty man is punished as an example for the mob an innocent man convicted is the business of every honest citizen.
Jean de la Bruyere
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Languages are the keys of science.
Jean de la Bruyere