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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

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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
Obliged
Grain
Seldom
Duty
Goes
Much
Praised
Strictly

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It is the glory and merit of some men to write well and of others not to write at all.
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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.
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All the worth of some people lies in their name upon a closer inspection it dwindles to nothing, but from a distance it deceives us.
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Great things astonish us, and small dishearten us. Custom makes both familiar.
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It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men.
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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.
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A mediocre mind thinks it writes divinely a good mind thinks it writes reasonably.
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A simple garb is the proper costume of the vulgar it is cut for them, and exactly suits their measure, but it is an ornament for those who have filled up their lives with great deeds. I liken them to beauty in dishabille, but more bewitching on that account.
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If some persons died, and others did not die, death would be a terrible affliction.
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When what you read elevates your mind and fills you with noble aspirations, look for no other rule by which to judge a book it is good, and is the work of a master-hand.
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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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He who only writes to suit the taste of the age, considers himself more than his writings. We should always aim at perfection, and then posterity will do us that justice which sometimes our contemporaries refuse us.
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I am told so many ill things of a man, and I see so few in him, that I begin to suspect he has a real but troublesome merit, as being likely to eclipse that of others.
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We trust our secrets to our friends, but they escape from us in love.
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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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Both as to high and low indifferently, men are prepossessed, charmed, fascinated by success successful crimes are praised very much like virtue itself, and good fortune is not far from occupying the place of the whole cycle of virtues. It must be an atrocious act, a base and hateful deed, which success would not be able to justify.
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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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A great mind is above insults, injustice, grief, and raillery, and would be invulnerable were it not open to compassion.
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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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A man can keep another's secret better than his own. A woman her own better than others.
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