Jean de la Bruyère (French: [ʒɑ̃ də la bʁyjɛʁ]; 16 August 1645 – 11 May 1696) was a French philosopher and moralist, who was noted for his satire.
Liberality consists less in giving a great deal than in gifts well-timed.
An inconstant woman is one who is no longer in love; a false woman is one who is already in love with another person; a fickle woman is she who neither knows whom she loves nor whether she loves or not; and the indifferent woman, one who does not love at all.
A vain man finds his account in speaking good or evil of himself.
Men blush less for their crimes than for their weaknesses and vanity. [Fr. , Les hommes rougissent moins de leur crimes que de leurs faiblesses et de leur vanite. ]
The finest and most beautiful ideas on morals and manners have been swept away before our times, and nothing is left for us but to glean after the ancients and the ablest amongst the moderns.
If our life is unhappy it is painful to bear; if it is happy it is horrible to lose, So the one is pretty equal to the other.
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.
It is better to expose ourselves to ingratitude than to neglect our duty to the distressed.
A prince wants only the pleasure of private life to complete his happiness.
High birth is a gift of fortune which should never challenge esteem towards those who receive it, since it costs them neither study nor labor.
A judge's duty is to grant justice, but his practice is to delay it: even those judges who know their duty adhere to the general practice.
Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank.
Pure friendship is something which men of an inferior intellect can never taste.
Genius and great abilities are often wanting; sometimes, only opportunities. Some deserve praise for what they have done; others for what they would have done.
A party spirit betrays the greatest men to act as meanly as the vulgar herd.
We come too late to say anything which has not been said already.
It is a proof of boorishness to confer a favor with a bad grace; it is the act of giving that is hard and painful. How little does a smile cost?
Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life. It is only found in men of sound sense and understanding.
We should like those whom we love to receive all their happiness, or, if this were impossible, all their unhappiness from our hands.
Cunning is none of the best nor worst qualities; it floats between virtue and vice; there is scarce any exigence where it may not, and perhaps ought not to be supplied by prudence.