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Quote by Jean de la Bruyere

“Some men promise to keep your secret and yet reveal it without knowing they are doing so; they do not wag their lips, and yet they are understood; it is read on their brow and in their eyes; it is seen through their breast; they are transparent.”

Quote by Jean de la Bruyere

Author

Jean de la Bruyere

Jean de la Bruyere was a French philosopher and moralist, born on August 16, 1645, and died on May 10, 1696. His works have had a profound impact on posterity. more

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“All confidence placed in another is dangerous if it is not perfect, for on almost all occasions we ought to tell everything or to conceal everything. We have already told too much of our secret, if one single circumstance is to be kept back.”

Ifs Perfect Secret Too Much Dangerous Ought Circumstances Occasions Not Perfect All Occasions

Author:Jean de la Bruyere

“Barbarism is the absence of standards to which appeal can be made.”

Made Standards Absence Appeals Barbarism

Book:the Revolt of the Masses

Source: the Revolt of the Masses

“What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of one's knowledge, and what is to be their end? What can be more deeply disheartening than to wonder whether one's soul is, perhaps, a material thing, like a stone or a reptile, corruptible like these base creatures? Is there not more strength and greatness of mind in admitting the idea of a being superior to all other beings, who has made them all and to whom all owe their existence; of a being supremely perfect, who is pure, who had no beginning and can have no ending, of whom our soul is the image and, so to speak, a portion, being a spiritual and immortal thing?”

“Tyranny has no need of arts or sciences, for its policy, which is very shallow and without any refinement, only consists in shedding blood.”

Needs Art Blood Policy Tyranny Tyrants Shallow Refinement Shedding Blood

Author:Jean de la Bruyere

“No vice exists which does not pretend to be more or less like some virtue, and which does not take advantage of this assumed resemblance.”

Doe Virtue Advantage Vices Resemblance

Author:Jean de la Bruyere

“He who knows how to wait for what he desires does not feel very desperate if he fails in obtaining it; and he, on the contrary, who is very impatient in procuring a certain thing, takes so much pains about it, that, even when he is successful, he does not think himself sufficiently rewarded.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Feels Doe Pain Desire Certain Waiting Know How Successful Failing Contrary Desperate Impatient Obtaining

Author:Jean de la Bruyere

“We need not envy certain people their great wealth; they acquired it at a heavy cost, which would not suit us; they staked their rest, their health, their honour and their conscience to acquire it, the price is too high, and there is nothing to be gained by such a bargain.”

Men Mind Made Certain Given Wealth Class Conscience Paid Dear Envy Riches Enormous Suits Peace Of Mind Honour Bargains

Author:Jean de la Bruyere

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

Author:Jean de la Bruyere

“A man is rich whose income is larger than his expenses, and he is poor if his expenses are greater than his income.”

Ifs Men Wealth Poor Rich Greater Income Expenses

Author:Jean de la Bruyere

“He who only writes to suit the taste of the age, considers himself more than his writings. We should always aim at perfection, and then posterity will do us that justice which sometimes our contemporaries refuse us.”

Should Writing Sometimes Age Justice Taste Perfection Aim Refuse Suits Posterity

Author:Jean de la Bruyere