There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
It is a great misfortune not to possess sufficient wit to speak well, nor sufficient judgment to keep silent. — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
We seldom repent of speaking little, very often of speaking too much: a vulgar and trite maxim, which all the world knows… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
We rarely repent of speaking little, but often of speaking too much. — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
It takes talent to please the people in a sermon by a flowery style, a cheerful ethic, brilliant sallies and lively descriptions;… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
Profound ignorance makes a man dogmatic. The man who knows nothing thinks he is teaching others what he has just learned himself;… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture. MARTIN LUTHER, letter to Chancellor Gregory Brück, January 13,… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
The unfaithful woman, if she is known for such by the person concerned, is only unfaithful. If she is thought faithful, she is perfidious. — Jean De La Bruyere Copy Share Image
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… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
Some people pretend they never were in love and never wrote poetry; two weaknesses which they dare not own -- one of the heart,… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
How much wit, good-nature, indulgences, how many good offices and civilities, are required among friends to accomplish in some years what a lovely face… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
A man starts upon a sudden, takes Pen, Ink, and Paper, and without ever having had a thought of it before, resolves within himself… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
A man of variable mind is not one man, but several men in one; he multiplies himself as often as he changes his taste… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
He who knows how to wait for what he desires does not feel very desperate if he fails in obtaining it; and he, on… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
The court is like a palace built of marble; I mean that it is made up of very hard but very polished people. [Fr.,… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
Grief that is dazed and speechless is out of fashion: the modern woman mourns her husband loudly and tells you the whole story of… — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image
Every hour in itself, as it respects us in particular, is the only one we can call our own. — Jean de la Bruyere Copy Share Image