Quotes from Jean de la Bruyere

The pleasure of criticizing takes away from us the pleasure of being moved by some very fine things.

Don't wait to be happy to laugh... You may die and never have laughed.

There is what is called the highway to posts and honor, and there is a cross and by way, which is much the shortest.

Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.

The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interest to promote yours.

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.

We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ill of them while they are alive is dangerous, and when they are dead is cowardly.

The great charm of conversation consists less in the display of one's own wit and intelligence than in the power to draw forth the resources of others.

Among some people arrogance supplies the place of grandeur, inhumanity of decision, and roguery of intelligence.

If poverty is the mother of all crimes, lack of intelligence is their father.

Incivility is not a Vice of the Soul, but the effect of several Vices; of Vanity, Ignorance of Duty, Laziness, Stupidity, Distraction, Contempt of others, and Jealousy.

Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do.

The sweetest of all sounds is that of the voice of the woman we love.

The rarest things in the world, next to a spirit of discernment, are diamonds and pearls.

Children are contemptuous, haughty, irritable, envious, sneaky, selfish, lazy, flighty, timid, liars and hypocrites, quick to laugh and cry, extreme in expressing joy and sorrow, especially about trifles, they'll do anything to avoid pain but they enjoy inflicting it: little men already.

Avoid lawsuits beyond all things they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.

It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men.

If some persons died, and others did not die, death would be a terrible affliction.

Love and friendship exclude each other.

There are but 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.

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all.

Logic is the technique by which we add conviction to truth.

Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker.

Children enjoy the present because they have neither a past nor a future.