Quotes from Jean de la Bruyere


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    One seeks to make the loved one entirely happy, or, if that cannot be, entirely wretched.

    Happy | Loved | Cannot


    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.

    Master | Position | Ambitious


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

    Discover | Favor | Riches


    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.

    Dream | Speak | Silent


    The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.

    God | Prove | Existence


    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.

    Master | Ambitious | Slave


    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.

    Death | Passion | Desire


    The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth.

    Truth | Believed | Contrary


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

    Court | Palace | Marble


    Politeness makes one appear outwardly as they should be within.

    Within | Politeness | Appear


    This great misfortune - to be incapable of solitude.

    Great | Solitude | Misfortune


    No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends, as to give them no cause to miss him less.

    Perfect | Miss | Cause


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

    Men | Vanity | Weaknesses


    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.

    Care | High | Birth


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

    Life | Happiness | Grief


    Everything has been said, and we are more than seven thousand years of human thought too late.

    Late | Seven | Thousand


    Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect.

    Good | Difference | Taste


    A vain man finds it wise to speak good or ill of himself; a modest man does not talk of himself.

    Good | Wise | Speak


    A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.

    Great | Small | Position


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

    Wishes | Seem


       

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