Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author. Jean de la Bruyere More Quotes by Jean de la Bruyere More Quotes From Jean de la Bruyere We seek our happiness outside ourselves, and in the opinion of men we know to be flatterers, insincere, unjust, full of envy, caprice and prejudice. Jean de la Bruyere envyunjustmen I am not surprised that there are gambling houses, like so many snares laid for human avarice; like abysses where many a man's money is engulfed and swallowed up without any hope of return; like frightful rocks against which the gamblers are thrown and perish. Jean de la Bruyere gamblingrocksmen A long disease seems to be a halting place between life and death, that death itself may be a comfort to those who die and to those who are left behind. Jean de la Bruyere life-and-deathcomfortlong Nothing keeps longer than a middling fortune, and nothing melts away sooner than a large one. Jean de la Bruyere wealthfortune Piety with some people, but especially with women, is either a passion, or an infirmity of age, or a fashion which must be followed. Jean de la Bruyere passionfashionpeople Logic is the art of making truth prevail. Jean de la Bruyere logicphilosophyart You may drive a dog off the King's armchair, and it will climb into the preacher's pulpit; he views the world unmoved, unembarrassed, unabashed. Jean de la Bruyere kingsviewsdog As a man falls out of favour and his wealth declines, we discover for the first time the ridiculous aspects of his character, which were always there but which wealth and favour had concealed. Jean de la Bruyere richesfavorsmen 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. Jean de la Bruyere speaking-welloffendingland The sublime only paints the true, and that too in noble objects; it paints it in all its phases, its cause and its effect; it is the most worthy expression or image of this truth. Ordinary minds cannot find out the exact expression, and use synonymes. Jean de la Bruyere sublimeexpressionmind I call worldly or earthly those whose minds and hearts are fixed on a tiny portion of this world they live in, which is our earth; who respect and love nothing beyond it: people as limited as what they call their property or their estate, which can be measured, whose acres can be counted, whose boundaries can be shown. Jean de la Bruyere mindheartmen If a handsome woman allows that another woman is beautiful, we may safely conclude she excels her. Jean de la Bruyere womenmaybeautiful There is no excess in the world so commendable as excessive gratitude. Jean de la Bruyere excessgratitudeworld There are some men who turn a deaf ear to reason and good advice, and willfully go wrong for fear of being controlled. Jean de la Bruyere poweradvicemen Everything has been said, and we have come too late, now that men have been living and thinking for seven thousand years and more. Jean de la Bruyere menyearsthinking Nothing is easier for passion than to overcome reason, but the greatest triumph is to conquer a man's own interests. Jean de la Bruyere passionovercomingmen The punishment of a criminal is an example to the rabble; but every decent man is concerned if an innocent person is condemned. Jean de la Bruyere innocent-personcriminalsmen They who, without any previous knowledge of us, think amiss of us, do us no harm; they attack not us, but the phantom of their own imagination. Jean de la Bruyere prejudiceimaginationthinking Nothing makes us better understand what trifling things Providence thinks He bestows on men in granting them wealth, money, dignities, and other advantages, than the manner in which they are distributed and the kind of men who have the largest share. Jean de la Bruyere dignitymenthinking He who can wait for what he desires takes the course not to be exceedingly grieved if he fails of it; he, on the contrary, who labors after a thing too impatiently thinks the success when it comes is not a recompense equal to all the pains he has been at about it. Jean de la Bruyere failurepainthinking
