Quote

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.

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
Great
Deserve
Would
Genius
Ability
Opportunity
Often
Abilities
Others
Wanting
Done
Opportunities
Sometimes
Praise

More quotes by Jean de la Bruyere

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Mockery is often the result of a poverty of wit.
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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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Love receives its death-wound from aversion, and forgetfulness buries it.
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Physiognomy is not a guide that has been given us by which to judge of the character of men: it may only serve us for conjecture. [Fr., La physionomie n'est pas une regle qui nous soit donnee pour juger des hommes elle nous peut servir de conjecture.]
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We never love with all our heart and all our soul but once, and that is the first time.
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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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Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect.
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A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.
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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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It requires more than mere genius to be an author.
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He who will not listen to any advice, nor be corrected in his writings, is a rank pedant.
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The passion of hatred is so long lived and so obstinate a malady that the surest sign of death in a sick person is their desire for reconciliation.
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A coxcomb is one whom simpletons believe to be a man of merit.
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All confidence placed in another is dangerous if it is not perfect, for on almost all occasions we ought to tell everything or to conceal everything. We have already told too much of our secret, if one single circumstance is to be kept back.
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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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As long as men are liable to die and are desirous to live, a physician will be made fun of, but he will be well paid.
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Rarely do they appear great before their valets.
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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.
Jean de la Bruyere
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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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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.
Jean de la Bruyere