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

More quotes by Jean de la Bruyere

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A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.
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A man who knows how to make good bargains or finds his money increase in his coffers, thinks presently that he has a good deal of brains and is almost fit to be a statesman.
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I do not doubt but that genuine piety is the spring of peace of mind it enables us to bear the sorrows of life, and lessens the pangs of death: the same cannot be said of hypocrisy.
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A woman is easily governed, if a man takes her in hand.
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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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When we have run through all forms of government, without partiality to that we were born under, we are at a loss with which to side they are all a compound of good and evil. It is therefore most reasonable and safe to value that of our own country above all others, and to submit to it.
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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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How much wit, good-nature, indulgences, how many good offices and civilities, are required among friends to accomplish in some years what a lovely face or a fine hand does in a minute!
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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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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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We must strive to make ourselves really worthy of some employment. We need pay no attention to anything else the rest is the business of others.
Jean de la Bruyere
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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.]
Jean de la Bruyere
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It is a sad thing when men have neither enough intelligence to speak well nor enough sense to hold their tongues this is the root of all impertinence.
Jean de la Bruyere
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The highest reach of a news-writer is an empty Reasoning on Policy, and vain Conjectures on the public Management.
Jean de la Bruyere
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Eloquence may be found in conversations and in all kinds of writings it is rarely found when looked for, and sometimes discovered where it is least expected.
Jean de la Bruyere
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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.
Jean de la Bruyere
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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.
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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The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle it suggests the idea of one.
Jean de la Bruyere
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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.
Jean de la Bruyere