481 Quotes by Jean De La Bruyere

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

"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"

"La gloria o el mérito de ciertos hombres consiste en escribir bien; el de otros consiste en no escribir."

"Nothing keeps longer than a middling fortune, and nothing melts away sooner than a large one."

"There is a false modesty, which is vanity; a false glory, which is levity; a false grandeur, which is meanness; a false virtue, which is hypocrisy, and a false wisdom, which is prudery."

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

"The generality of men expend the early part of their lives in contributing to render the latter part miserable."

"The doctors allow one to die, the charlatans kill."

"A wise man is not governed by others, nor does he try to govern them; he prefers that reason alone prevail."

"There is speaking well, speaking easily, speaking justly and speaking seasonably: It is offending against the last, to speak of entertainments before the indigent; of sound limbs and health before the infirm; of houses and lands before one who has not so much as a dwelling; in a word, to speak of your prosperity before the miserable; this conversation is cruel, and the comparison which naturally arises in them betwixt their condition and yours is excruciating."