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The Great slight the men of wit, who have nothing but wit the men of wit despise the Great, who have nothing but greatness the good man pities them both, if with greatness or wit they have not virtue.

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
Pity
Greatness
Virtue
Nothing
Great
Pities
Good
Slight
Men
Despise
Wit

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The highest reach of a news-writer is an empty Reasoning on Policy, and vain Conjectures on the public Management.
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Rarely do they appear great before their valets.
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The flatterer does not think highly enough of himself or of others.
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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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Death happens but once, yet we feel it every moment of our lives it is worse to dread it than to suffer it.
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We seldom repent talking little, but very often talking too much.
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Criticism is as often a trade as a science, requiring, as it does, more health than wit, more labour than capacity, more practice than genius.
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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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When a work lifts your spirits and inspires bold and noble thoughts in you, do not look for any other standard to judge by: the work is good, the product of a master craftsman.
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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?
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Children are overbearing, supercilious, passionate, envious, inquisitive, egotistical, idle, fickle, timid, intemperate, liars, and dissemblers they laugh and weep easily, are excessive in their joys and sorrows, and that about the most trifling objects they bear no pain, but like to inflict it on others already they are 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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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.
Jean de la Bruyere
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For a woman to be at once a coquette and a bigot is more than the humblest of husbands can bear she should mercifully choose between the two.
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We are more sociable, and get on better with people by the heart than the intellect.
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To how many girls has a great beauty been of no other use but to make them expect a large fortune!
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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 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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A coxcomb is one whom simpletons believe to be a man of merit.
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A faithless woman, if known to be such by the person concerned, is but faithless if she is believed faithful, she is treacherous.
Jean de la Bruyere