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There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing, that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it.

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
Leave
Loses
Desire
Ardently
Certain
Passionately
Nothing
Undone
Thing
Dread
Make
Losing
People
Lose

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When a work lifts your spirits and inspires bold and noble thoughts in you, do not look for any other standard to judge by: the work is good, the product of a master craftsman.
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A man unattached and without wife, if he have any genius at all, may raise himself above his original position, may mingle with the world of fashion, and hold himself on a level with the highest this is less easy for him who is engaged it seems as if marriage put the whole world in their proper rank.
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Children enjoy the present because they have neither a past nor a future.
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The sublime only paints the true, and that too in noble objects it paints it in all its phases, its cause and its effect it is the most worthy expression or image of this truth. Ordinary minds cannot find out the exact expression, and use synonymes.
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To express truth is to write naturally, forcibly, and delicately.
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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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Death happens but once, yet we feel it every moment of our lives it is worse to dread it than to suffer it.
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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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Most men spend the first half of their lives making the second half miserable.
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The flatterer does not think highly enough of himself or of others.
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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.
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Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker.
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It is weakness which makes us hate an enemy and seek revenge, and it is idleness that pacifies us and causes us to neglect it.
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We dread old age, which are not sure of being able to attain. [Fr., L'on craint la vieillesse, que l'on n'est pas sur de pouvoir atteindre.]
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A person's worth in this world is estimated according to the value he puts on himself.
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Making a book is a craft, like making a clock it needs more than native wit to be an author.
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When a plain-looking woman is loved, it is certain to be very passionately for either her influence on her lover is irresistible, or she has some secret and more irresistible charms than those of beauty.
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There are but three events which concern man: birth, life and death. They are unconscious of their birth, they suffer when they die, and they neglect to live.
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A man is rich whose income is larger than his expenses, and he is poor if his expenses are greater than his income.
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A dogmatic tone is generally inspired by abysmal ignorance. The man who knows nothing thinks he is informing others of something which he has that moment learnt the man who knows a great deal can scarcely believe that people are ignorant of what he is telling them, and speaks more diffidently.
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