Quote

We seldom repent of speaking little, very often of speaking too much: a vulgar and trite maxim, which all the world knows and, but which all the world does not practice

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
Practice
Trite
Often
Maxim
Doe
Maxims
Littles
Repent
Little
Vulgar
Much
Seldom
World
Speaking
Speech

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The fears of old age disturb us, yet how few attain it?
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I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture. MARTIN LUTHER, letter to Chancellor Gregory Brück, January 13, 1524 Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank.
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Profound ignorance makes a man dogmatic. The man who knows nothing thinks he is teaching others what he has just learned himself the man who knows a great deal can't imagine that what he is saying is not common knowledge, and speaks more indifferently.
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A man may have intelligence enough to excel in a particular thing and lecture on it, and yet not have sense enough to know he ought to be silent on some other subject of which he has but a slight knowledge if such an illustrious man ventures beyond the bounds of his capacity, he loses his way and talks like a fool.
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We should laugh before being happy, for fear of dying without having laughed.
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The events we most desire do not happen or, if they do, it is neither in the time nor in the circumstances when they would have given us extreme pleasure.
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We seldom repent talking little, but very often talking too much.
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No vice exists which does not pretend to be more or less like some virtue, and which does not take advantage of this assumed resemblance.
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A prince wants only the pleasure of private life to complete his happiness.
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Tyranny has no need of arts or sciences, for its policy, which is very shallow and without any refinement, only consists in shedding blood.
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There is not in the world so toilsome a trade as the pursuit of fame life concludes before you have so much as sketched your work.
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The great gift of conversation lies less in displaying it ourselves than in drawing it out of others. He who leaves your company pleased with himself and his own cleverness is perfectly well pleased with you.
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We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together.
Jean de la Bruyere
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The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discloses to me His existence. [Fr., L'impossibilite ou je suis de prouver que Dieu n'est pas, me decouvre son existence.]
Jean de la Bruyere
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He who knows how to wait for what he desires does not feel very desperate if he fails in obtaining it and he, on the contrary, who is very impatient in procuring a certain thing, takes so much pains about it, that, even when he is successful, he does not think himself sufficiently rewarded.
Jean de la Bruyere
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One seeks to make the loved one entirely happy, or, if that cannot be, entirely wretched.
Jean de la Bruyere
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The Great slight the men of wit, who have nothing but wit the men of wit despise the Great, who have nothing but greatness the good man pities them both, if with greatness or wit they have not virtue.
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The most amiable people are those who least wound the self-love of others.
Jean de la Bruyere
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The punishment of a criminal is an example to the rabble but every decent man is concerned if an innocent person is condemned.
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We wish to constitute all the happiness, or, if that cannot be, the misery of the one we love.
Jean de la Bruyere