Quotes from Jean de la Bruyere

That man is good who does good to others; if he suffers on account of the good he does, he is very good; if he suffers at the hands of those to whom he has done good, then his goodness is so great that it could be enhanced only by greater sufferings; and if he should die at their hands, his virtue can go no further: it is heroic, it is perfect.

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.

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.

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

The pleasure of criticizing robs us of the pleasure of being moved by some very fine things

Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates.

Poverty may be the mother of crime, but lack of good sense is the father

All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone.

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

It is a sad thing when men have neither the wit to speak well nor the judgment to hold their tongues.

Out of difficulties grow miracles.

Two quite opposite qualities equally bias our minds - habits and novelty.

The fears of old age disturb us, yet how few attain it?

This great misfortune - to be incapable of solitude.

A pious man is one who would be an athiest if the king were.

Discourtesy does not spring merely from one bad quality, but from several--from foolish vanity, from ignorance of what is due to others, from indolence, from stupidity, from distraction of thought, from contempt of others, from jealousy.

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

The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as can help in making his fortune.

There are three great events in our lives: birth, life and death. Of birth we have no conscience; with death, we suffer; and, concerning life, we forget to live it.

Men blush less for their crimes than for their weaknesses and vanity.

The court is like a palace of marble; it's composed of people very hard and very polished.

Make me chaste and To what excesses will men not go for the sake of a religion in which they believe so little and which they practice so imperfectly!

We are valued in this world at the rate we desire to be valued.

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