A mediocre mind thinks it writes divinely; a good mind thinks it writes reasonably.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
A slave has but one master; an ambitious man has as many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
All men's misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
As favor and riches forsake a man, we discover in him the foolishness they concealed, and which no one perceived before.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Children enjoy the present because they have neither a past nor a future.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Even the best intentioned of great men need a few scoundrels around them; there are some things you cannot ask an honest ma to do.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Everything has been said, and we are more than seven thousand years of human thought too late.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
He who tip-toes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
I would not like to see a person who is sober, moderate, chaste and just say that there is no God. They would speak disinterestedly at least, but such a person is not to be found.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
If poverty is the mother of crime, lack of good sense is the father.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
If some persons died, and others did not die, death would be a terrible affliction.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
It is a sad thing when men have neither the wit to speak well nor the judgment to hold their tongues.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Liberality consists less in giving a great deal than in gifts well-timed.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Love and friendship exclude each other.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Man has but three events in his life: to be born, to live, and to die. He is not conscious of his birth, he suffers at his death and he forgets to live.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Next to sound judgment, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things in the world.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
One mark of a second-rate mind is to be always telling stories.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
One must laugh before one is happy, or one may die without ever laughing at all.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Out of difficulties grow miracles.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Politeness makes one appear outwardly as they should be within.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Poverty may be the mother of crime, but lack of good sense is the father.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
The court is like a palace of marble; it's composed of people very hard and very polished.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
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.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle; it suggests the idea of one.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
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.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
The pleasure of criticizing robs us of the pleasure of being moved by some very fine things.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
The regeneration of society is the regeneration of society by individual education.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
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.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
The sweetest of all sounds is that of the voice of the woman we love.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
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 Quote
There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
There is not in the world so toilsome a trade as the pursuit of fame; life concludes before you have so much as sketched your work.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
This great misfortune - to be incapable of solitude.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
To be among people one loves, that's sufficient; to dream, to speak to them, to be silent among them, to think of indifferent things; but among them, everything is equal.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
We must laugh before we are happy, for fear of dying without having laughed at all.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
We should laugh before being happy, for fear of dying without having laughed.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
When a book raises your spirit, and inspires you with noble and courageous feelings, seek for no other rule to judge the event by; it is good and made by a good workman.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
When a book raises your spirit, and inspires you with noble and manly thoughts, seek for no other test of its excellence. It is good, and made by a good workman.
- Jean de la Bruyere Quote
