French philosopher and moralist (1645-1696)
Whatever is certain in death is slightly alleviated by what is not so infallible; the time when it shall happen is undefined, but it is more or less connected with the infinite, and what we call eternity.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Mankind", Les Caractères
I am not astonished that men who lean, as it were, on an atom, should stumble at the smallest efforts they make for discovering the truth ; that, being so short-sighted, they do not reach beyond the heavens and the stars, to contemplate God Himself.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Freethinkers", Les Caractères
Nothing resembles today so much as tomorrow.
JEAN DE LA BRUYERE
attributed, Day's Collacon
False modesty is the last refinement of vanity.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
attributed, Day's Collacon
We confide our secret to a friend, but in love it escapes us.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
He who will not listen to any advice, nor be corrected in his writings, is a rank pedant.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
The critics, or those who, thinking themselves so, decide deliberately and decisively about all public representations, group and divide themselves into different parties, each of whom admires a certain poem or a certain music and damns all others, urged on by a wholly different motive than public interest or justice. The ardour with which they defend their prejudices damages the opposite party as well as their own set. These men discourage poets and musicians by a thousand contradictions, and delay the progress of arts and sciences, by depriving them of the advantages to be obtained by that emulation and freedom which many excellent masters, each in their own way and according to their own genius, might display in the execution of some very fine works.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
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 BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
The same amount of pride which makes a man treat haughtily his inferiors, makes him cringe servilely; to those above him.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Gifts of Fortune", Les Caractères
A man must be completely wanting in intelligence if he does not show it when actuated by love, malice, or necessity.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
We never deceive people to benefit them, for knavery is a compound of wickedness and falsehood.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Mankind", Les Caractères
It is often easier as well as more advantageous to conform ourselves to other men's opinions than to bring them over to ours.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Society and of Conversation", Les Caractères
Friendship can exist between persons of different sexes, without any coarse or sensual feelings; yet a woman always looks upon a man as a man, and so a man will look upon a woman as a woman.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
If poverty is the mother of all crimes, lack of intelligence is their father.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Mankind", Les Caractères
Nothing is easier for passion than to overcome reason, but the greatest triumph is to conquer a man's own interests.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of the Affections", Les Caractères
Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Personal Merit", Les Caractères
It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Personal Merit", Les Caractères
A man of variable mind is not one man, but several men in one; he multiplies himself as often as he changes his taste and manners; he is not this minute what he was the last, and will not be the next what he is now; he is his own successor.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Mankind", Les Caractères
The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle; it suggests the idea of one.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
Les Caractères ou les Moeurs de ce siecle
Outward simplicity befits ordinary men, like a garment made to measure for them; but it serves as an adornment to those who have filled their lives with great deeds: they might be compared to some beauty carelessly dressed and thereby all the more attractive.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Personal Merit", Les Caractères