Jean de La Bruyère - Men Quotes

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Nothing more clearly shows how little God esteems his gift to men of wealth, money, position and other worldly goods, than the way he distributes these, and the sort of men who are most amply provided with them.

Jean de La Bruyère
To laugh at men of sense is the privilege of fools.

Jean de La Bruyère
It is a sad thing when men have neither the wit to speak well, nor the judgment to hold their tongues.

Jean de La Bruyère
Women run to extremes; they are either better or worse than men.

Jean de La Bruyère
Most men make use of the first part of their life to render the last part miserable.

Jean de La Bruyère
Outward simplicity befits ordinary men, like a garment made to measure for them; but it serves as an adornment to those who have filled their lives with great deeds.

Jean de La Bruyère
It does not take twenty years for men to change their opinions of things which had seemed to them the truest, and most certain.

Jean de La Bruyère
From time to time there appear on the face of the earth men of rare and consummate excellence, who dazzle us by their virtue, and whose outstanding qualities shed a stupendous light. Like those extraordinary stars of whose origins we are ignorant, and of whose fate, once they have vanished, we know even less, such men have neither forebears nor descendants: they are the whole of their race.

Jean de La Bruyère
Lofty posts make great men greater still, and small men much smaller.

Jean de La Bruyère
Men would not live long in society if they were not the dupes of each other.

Jean de La Bruyère
Let us not envy a certain class of men for their enormous riches; they have paid such an equivalent for them that it would not suit us; they have given for them their peace of mind, their health, their honor, and their conscience; this is rather too dear, and there is nothing to be made out of such a bargain.

Jean de La Bruyère
The true spirit of conversation consists more in bringing out the cleverness of others than in showing a great deal of it yourself; he who goes away pleased with himself and his own wit is also greatly pleased with you. Most men would rather please than admire you; they seek less to be instructed, and even to be amused, than to be praised and applauded.

Jean de La Bruyère
Women go further in love than most men, but men go further in friendship than women.

Jean de La Bruyère
Women are extremists: they are either better or worse than men.

Jean de La Bruyère
As long as men are liable to die and desirous to live, a physician will be made fun of, but he will be well paid.

Jean de La Bruyère