Quotes from Jean de la Bruyere

As favor and riches forsake a man, we discover in him the foolishness they concealed, and which no one perceived before.

A man can deceive a woman by his sham attachment to her provided he does not have a real attachment elsewhere.

A man of the world must seem to be what he wishes to be thought.

The reason that women do not love one another is - men.

Nothing is easier for passion than to overcome reason, but the greatest triumph is to conquer a man's own interests.

Men make the best friends.

As riches and honor forsake a man, we discover him to be a fool, but nobody could find it out in his prosperity.

Pure friendship is something which men of an inferior intellect can never taste.

When a man puts on a Character he is a stranger to, there's as much difference between what he appears, and what he is really in himself, as there is between a VIzor and a Face.

It is the glory and merit of some men to write well and of others not to write at all.

An egotist will always speak of himself, either in praise or in censure, but a modest man ever shuns making himself the subject of his conversation.

Women are extreme; they are better than men, or worse.

It is motive alone that gives real value to the actions of men, and disinterestedness puts the cap to it.

The best thing next to wit is a consciousness that it is not in us; without wit, a man might then know how to behave himself, so as not to appear to be a fool or a coxcomb.

A man's worth is estimated in this world according to his conduct.

The punishment of a criminal is an example to the rabble; but every decent man is concerned if an innocent person is condemned.

Everything has been said, and we have come too late, now that men have been living and thinking for seven thousand years and more.

The same principle leads us to neglect a man of merit that induces us to admire a fool. [Fr., Du meme fonds dont on neglige un homme de merite l'on sait encore admirer un sot.]

Extremes are vicious, and proceed from men; compensation is just, and proceeds from God.

Most men spend the best part of their lives making the remaining part wretched.

Most men spend the first half of their lives making the second half miserable.

Life at court does not satisfy a man, but it keeps him from being satisfied with anything else.

There are but three events which concern man: birth, life and death. They are unconscious of their birth, they suffer when they die, and they neglect to live.

One faithful Friend is enough for a man's self, 'tis much to meet with such an one, yet we can't have too many for the sake of others.