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.
A coxcomb is one whom simpletons believe to be a man of merit.
Women become attached to men by the intimacies they grant them; men are cured of their love by the same intimacies.
There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.
Caprice in woman is the antidote to beauty.
The mind, like all other things, will become impaired, the sciences are its food,--they nourish, but at the same time they consume it.
It is the glory and merit of some men to write well and of others not to write at all.
For a long time visits among lovers and professions of love are kept up through habit, after their behavior has plainly proved that love no longer exists.
The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored.
A coxcomb is the blockhead's man of merit.
It would be a kind of ferocity to reject indifferently all sorts of praise. One should be glad to have that which comes from good men who praise in sincerity things that are really praiseworthy.