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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.

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
Real
Suspects
Things
Merit
Men
Ill
Likely
Begin
Told
Eclipse
Others
Troublesome
Many
Suspect

More quotes by Jean de la Bruyere

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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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Politeness does not always inspire goodness, equity, complaisance, and gratitude it gives at least the appearance of these qualities, and makes man appear outwardly, as he should be within.
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The court is like a palace built of marble I mean that it is made up of very hard but very polished people. [Fr., La cour est comme un edifice bati de marbre je veux dire qu'elle est composee d'hommes fort durs mais fort polis.]
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We all covet wealth, but not its perils.
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The great gift of conversation lies less in displaying it ourselves than in drawing it out of others. He who leaves your company pleased with himself and his own cleverness is perfectly well pleased with you.
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An assembly of the states, a court of justice, shows nothing so serious and grave as a table of gamesters playing very high a melancholy solicitude clouds their looks envy and rancor agitate their minds while the meeting lasts, without regard to friendship, alliances, birth or distinctions.
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A long disease seems to be a halting place between life and death, that death itself may be a comfort to those who die and to those who are left behind.
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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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Children enjoy the present because they have neither a past nor a future.
Jean de la Bruyere
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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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There are only three events in a man's life birth, life, and death he is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live.
Jean de la Bruyere
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Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker.
Jean de la Bruyere
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A person's worth in this world is estimated according to the value he puts on himself.
Jean de la Bruyere
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A prince wants only the pleasure of private life to complete his happiness.
Jean de la Bruyere
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Logic is the art of making truth prevail.
Jean de la Bruyere
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Some people pretend they never were in love and never wrote poetry two weaknesses which they dare not own -- one of the heart, the other of the mind.
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
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We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together.
Jean de la Bruyere
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Out of difficulties grow miracles.
Jean de la Bruyere
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We are valued in this world at the rate we desire to be valued.
Jean de la Bruyere