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The art of conversation consists far less in displaying much wit oneself than in helping others to be witty: the man who leaves your company pleased with himself and his own wit is very well pleased with you.
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
Company
Cleverness
Less
Pleased
Helping
Consists
Spirit
Witty
Others
Leaves
Well
Oneself
Much
Conversation
Deals
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More quotes by Jean de la Bruyere
A wise man neither suffers himself to be governed, nor attempts to govern others.
Jean de la Bruyere
It is not so easy to obtain a reputation by a perfect work as to enhance the value of an indifferent one by a reputation already acquired.
Jean de la Bruyere
I take sanctuary in an honest mediocrity.
Jean de la Bruyere
Outward simplicity befits ordinary men, like a garment made to measure for them but it serves as an adornment to those who have filled their lives with great deeds: they might be compared to some beauty carelessly dressed and thereby all the more attractive.
Jean de la Bruyere
A man without characteristics is a most insipid character.
Jean de la Bruyere
The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes.
Jean de la Bruyere
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
Favor exalts a man above his equals, but his dismissal from that favor places him below them.
Jean de la Bruyere
Let us not complain against men because otheir rudeness, their ingratitude, their injustice, their arrogance, their love oself, their forgetfulness oothers. They are so made. Such is their nature.
Jean de la Bruyere
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.
Jean de la Bruyere
A man reveals his character even in the simplest things he does.
Jean de la Bruyere
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
If some persons died, and others did not die, death would be a terrible affliction.
Jean de la Bruyere
If women were by nature what they make themselves by art if they were to lose suddenly all the freshness of their complexion, and their faces to become as fiery and as leaden as they make them with the red and the paint they besmear themselves with, they would consider themselves the most wretched creatures on earth.
Jean de la Bruyere
The whole genius of an author consists in describing well, and delineating character well. Homer, Plato, Virgil, Horace only excel other writers by their expressions and images we must indicate what is true if we mean to write naturally, forcibly and delicately.
Jean de la Bruyere
I call worldly or earthly those whose minds and hearts are fixed on a tiny portion of this world they live in, which is our earth who respect and love nothing beyond it: people as limited as what they call their property or their estate, which can be measured, whose acres can be counted, whose boundaries can be shown.
Jean de la Bruyere
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
Duty is what goes most against the grain, because in doing that we do only what we are strictly obliged to, and are seldom much praised for it.
Jean de la Bruyere
Death happens but once, yet we feel it every moment of our lives it is worse to dread it than to suffer it.
Jean de la Bruyere
During the course of our life we now and then enjoy some pleasures so inviting, and have some encounters of so tender a nature, that though they are forbidden, it is but natural to wish that they were at least allowable. Nothing can be more delightful, except it be to abandon them for virtue's sake.
Jean de la Bruyere
