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.
We trust our secrets to our friends, but they escape from us in love.
A man's worth is estimated in this world according to his conduct.
A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.
Some people pretend they never were in love and never wrote poetry; two weaknesses which they dare not own -- one of the heart, the other of the mind.
If poverty is the mother of all crimes, lack of intelligence is the father.
There are but three events which concern man: birth, life and death. They are unconscious of their birth, they suffer when they die, and they neglect to live.
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.
Men are the cause of women not loving one another. [Fr. , Les hommes sont la cause que les femmes ne s'aiment point. ]
When life is unhappy it is hard to endure, when it is happy it is terrible to think of it ending. Both amount to the same thing in the end.
If a handsome woman allows that another woman is beautiful, we may safely conclude she excels her.
Death happens but once, yet we feel it every moment of our lives; it is worse to dread it than to suffer it.
The very essence of politeness seems to be to take care that by our words and actions we make other people pleased with us as well as with themselves.
The News-writer lies down at Night in great Tranquillity, upon a piece of News which corrupts before Morning, and which he is obliged to throw away as soon as he awakes.
A mediocre mind thinks it writes divinely; a good mind thinks it writes reasonably.
Love seizes us suddenly, without giving warning, and our disposition or our weakness favors the surprise; one look, one glance, from the fair fixes and determines us.
A man of the world must seem to be what he wishes to be thought.
One must laugh before one is happy, or one may die without ever laughing at all.
Life at court does not satisfy a man, but it keeps him from being satisfied with anything else.
Next to sound judgment, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things in the world.
Hatred is so lasting and stubborn, that reconciliation on a sickbed certainly forebodes death.