Quote

It is a proof of boorishness to confer a favor with a bad grace it is the act of giving that is hard and painful. How little does a smile cost?

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
Littles
Favor
Little
Favors
Hard
Proof
Giving
Painful
Smile
Cost
Grace
Doe
Confer

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Logic is the art of making truth prevail.
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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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For some people, speaking and giving offence are one and the same thing. They are spiteful and bitter their style is infused with gall and wormwood mockery, abuse and insults flow from their lips like spittle.
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The finest and most beautiful ideas on morals and manners have been swept away before our times, and nothing is left for us but to glean after the ancients and the ablest amongst the moderns.
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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.
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If you suppress the exorbitant love of pleasure and money, idle curiosity, iniquitous pursuits and wanton mirth, what a stillness would there be in the greatest cities.
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Mockery is often the result of a poverty of wit.
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Great things only require to be simply told, for they are spoiled by emphasis but little things should be clothed in lofty language, as they are only kept up by expression, tone of voice, and style of delivery.
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We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together.
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To give awkwardly is churlishness. The most difficult part is to give, then why not add a smile?
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The fears of old age disturb us, yet how few attain it?
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The best way to get on in the world is to make people believe it's to their advantage to help you.
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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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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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Profound ignorance makes a man dogmatic. The man who knows nothing thinks he is teaching others what he has just learned himself the man who knows a great deal can't imagine that what he is saying is not common knowledge, and speaks more indifferently.
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Among some people arrogance supplies the place of grandeur, inhumanity of decision, and roguery of intelligence.
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The punishment of a criminal is an example to the rabble but every decent man is concerned if an innocent person is condemned.
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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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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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