Quote

A man starts upon a sudden, takes Pen, Ink, and Paper, and without ever having had a thought of it before, resolves within himself he will write a Book he has no Talent at Writing, but he wants fifty Guineas.

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
Men
Within
Sudden
Upon
Resolve
Write
Starts
Guineas
Thought
Fifty
Resolves
Ever
Paper
Authorship
Book
Talent
Guinea
Without
Wants
Ink
Writing
Takes
Pens

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Foolish jokers are thick on the ground, and it rains insects of that sort everywhere. A good joker is a rarity even a man who is such by nature finds it hard to sustain the part for long it seldom happens that the man who makes us laugh wins our esteem.
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Misers are neither relations, nor friends, nor citizens, nor Christians, nor perhaps even human beings.
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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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Friendship * * * is a long time in forming, it is of slow growth, through many trials and months of familiarity.
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The generality of men expend the early part of their lives in contributing to render the latter part miserable.
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There is no employment in the world so laborious as that of making to one's self a great name life ends before one has scarcely made the first rough draught of his work.
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The first day one is a guest, the second a burden, and the third a pest.
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In all conditions of life a poor man is a near neighbor to an honest one, and a rich man is as little removed from a knave.
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Men regret their life has been ill-spent, but this does not always induce them to make a better use of the time they have yet to live.
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The passion of hatred is so long lived and so obstinate a malady that the surest sign of death in a sick person is their desire for reconciliation.
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Love has this in common with scruples, that it becomes embittered by the reflections and the thoughts that beset us to free ourselves.
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Make me chaste and To what excesses will men not go for the sake of a religion in which they believe so little and which they practice so imperfectly!
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Most men spend the first half of their lives making the second half miserable.
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There are some men who turn a deaf ear to reason and good advice, and willfully go wrong for fear of being controlled.
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The rarest things in the world, next to a spirit of discernment, are diamonds and pearls. [Fr., Apres l'esprit de discernement, ce qu'il y a au monde de plus rare, ce sont les diamants et les perles.]
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People reveal their character even in the simplest things they do. Fools do not enter a room, nor leave it, nor sit down, nor rise, nor are they silent, nor do they stand up, like people of sense and understanding.
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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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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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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.
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A mediocre mind thinks it writes divinely a good mind thinks it writes reasonably.
Jean de la Bruyere