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A Man May Have Intelligence Enough To Excel In A Particular Thing And Lecture On It, And Yet Not Have Sense Enough To Know He Ought To Be Silent On Some Other Subject Of Which He Has But A Slight Knowledge; If Such An Illustrious Man Ventures Beyond The Bounds Of His Capacity, He Loses His Way And Talks Like A Fool.

-Jean De La Bruyere

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A Man May Have

Jean De La Bruyere

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A Man May Have Intelligence Enough To Excel In A Particular Thing And Lecture On It, And Yet Not Have Sense Enough To Know He Ought To Be Silent On Some Other Subject Of Which He Has But A Slight Knowledge; If Such An Illustrious Man Ventures Beyond The Bounds Of His Capacity, He Loses His Way And Talks Like A Fool.

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If You Suppress The Exorbitant Love Of Pleasure And Money, Idle Curiosity, Iniquitous Pursuits And Wanton Mirth, What A Stillness Would There Be In The Greatest Cities.

Envy And Hatred Go Together. Mutually Strengthened By The Fact Pursue The Same Object.

The Noblest Deeds Are Well Enough Set Forth In Simple Language; Emphasis Spoils Them.

A Man Can Keep Another's Secret Better Than His Own. A Woman Her Own Better Than Others.

Keeping Secrets

Men Are The Cause Of Women Not Loving One Another. [fr., Les Hommes Sont La Cause Que Les Femmes Ne S'aiment Point.]

Mockery Is Often The Result Of A Poverty Of Wit.

The Passion Of Hatred Is So Long Lived And So Obstinate A Malady That The Surest Sign Of Death In A Sick Person Is Their Desire For Reconciliation.

The First Day One Is A Guest, The Second A Burden, And The Third A Pest.

If A Secret Is Revealed, The Person Who Has Confided It To Another Is To Be Blamed.

Hatred Is So Lasting And Stubborn, That Reconciliation On A Sickbed Certainly Forebodes Death.

He Who Excels In His Art So As To Carry It To The Utmost Height Of Perfection Of Which It Is Capable May Be Said In Some Measure To Go Beyond It: His Transcendent Productions Admit Of No Appellations.

Jesting Is Often Only Indigence Of Intellect.

The Most Amiable People Are Those Who Least Wound The Self-love Of Others.

As A Man Falls Out Of Favour And His Wealth Declines, We Discover For The First Time The Ridiculous Aspects Of His Character, Which Were Always There But Which Wealth And Favour Had Concealed.

In Art Them Is A Point Of Perfection, As Of Goodness Or Maturity In Nature; He Who Is Able To Perceive It, And Who Loves It, Has Perfect Taste; He Who Does Not Feel It, Or Loves On This Side Or That, Has An Imperfect Taste.

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: They Might Be Compared To Some Beauty Carelessly Dressed And Thereby All The More Attractive.

The Same Amount Of Pride Which Makes A Man Treat Haughtily His Inferiors, Makes Him Cringe Servilely; To Those Above Him.

Next To Sound Judgment, Diamonds And Pearls Are The Rarest Things In The World.

We Are More Sociable, And Get On Better With People By The Heart Than The Intellect.

It Is Too Much For A Husband To Have A Wife Who Is A Coquette And Sanctimonious As Well; She Should Select Only One Of Those Qualities.

The Most Delicate, The Most Sensible Of All Pleasures, Consists In Promoting The Pleasure Of Others.

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.

Nothing Makes Us Better Understand What Trifling Things Providence Thinks He Bestows On Men In Granting Them Wealth, Money, Dignities, And Other Advantages, Than The Manner In Which They Are Distributed And The Kind Of Men Who Have The Largest Share.

It Is Very Rare To Find Ground Which Produces Nothing; If It Is Not Covered With Flowers, With Fruit Trees And Grains, It Produces Briers And Pines. It Is The Same With Man; If He Is Not Virtuous, He Becomes Vicious.

Banter Is Often A Proof Of Want Of Intelligence.

Foolish Jokers Are Thick On The Ground, And It Rains Insects Of That Sort Everywhere. A Good Joker Is A Rarity; Even A Man Who Is Such By Nature Finds It Hard To Sustain The Part For Long; It Seldom Happens That The Man Who Makes Us Laugh Wins Our Esteem.

Children Are Overbearing, Supercilious, Passionate, Envious, Inquisitive, Egotistical, Idle, Fickle, Timid, Intemperate, Liars, And Dissemblers; They Laugh And Weep Easily, Are Excessive In Their Joys And Sorrows, And That About The Most Trifling Objects; They Bear No Pain, But Like To Inflict It On Others; Already They Are Men.

The Most Exquisite Pleasure Is Giving Pleasure To Others.

Men Regret Their Life Has Been Ill-spent, But This Does Not Always Induce Them To Make A Better Use Of The Time They Have Yet To Live.

Politeness Does Not Always Inspire Goodness, Equity, Complaisance, And Gratitude; It Gives At Least The Appearance Of These Qualities, And Makes Man Appear Outwardly, As He Should Be Within.

A Man Starts Upon A Sudden, Takes Pen, Ink, And Paper, And Without Ever Having Had A Thought Of It Before, Resolves Within Himself He Will Write A Book; He Has No Talent At Writing, But He Wants Fifty Guineas.

A Coxcomb Is One Whom Simpletons Believe To Be A Man Of Merit.

There Is A Pleasure In Meeting The Glance Of A Person Whom We Have Lately Laid Under Some Obligations.

If Women Were By Nature What They Make Themselves By Art; If They Were To Lose Suddenly All The Freshness Of Their Complexion, And Their Faces To Become As Fiery And As Leaden As They Make Them With The Red And The Paint They Besmear Themselves With, They Would Consider Themselves The Most Wretched Creatures On Earth.

I Call Worldly Or Earthly Those Whose Minds And Hearts Are Fixed On A Tiny Portion Of This World They Live In, Which Is Our Earth; Who Respect And Love Nothing Beyond It: People As Limited As What They Call Their Property Or Their Estate, Which Can Be Measured, Whose Acres Can Be Counted, Whose Boundaries Can Be Shown.

The Pleasure We Feel In Criticizing Robs Us From Being Moved By Very Beautiful Things.

Poverty May Be The Mother Of Crime, But Lack Of Good Sense Is The Father.

A Man May Have Intelligence Enough To Excel In A Particular Thing And Lecture On It, And Yet Not Have Sense Enough To Know He Ought To Be Silent On Some Other Subject Of Which He Has But A Slight Knowledge; If Such An Illustrious Man Ventures Beyond The Bounds Of His Capacity, He Loses His Way And Talks Like A Fool.

I Cannot Forbid A Person To Marry Several Wives, For It Does Not Contradict Scripture. Martin Luther, Letter To Chancellor Gregory Brück, January 13, 1524 Marriage, It Seems, Confines Every Man To His Proper Rank.

If A Handsome Woman Allows That Another Woman Is Beautiful, We May Safely Conclude She Excels Her.

It Is Often Easier As Well As More Advantageous To Conform To Other Men's Opinions Than To Bring Them Over To Ours.

When A Work Lifts Your Spirits And Inspires Bold And Noble Thoughts In You, Do Not Look For Any Other Standard To Judge By: The Work Is Good, The Product Of A Master Craftsman.

It Takes Talent To Please The People In A Sermon By A Flowery Style, A Cheerful Ethic, Brilliant Sallies And Lively Descriptions; But Such A Talent Is Inadequate. A Better Sort Of Talent Neglects These Extraneous Ornaments, Unworthy To Be Used In The Service Of The Gospel: Such A Preacher's Sermon Will Be Simple, Strong And Christian.

The Same Principle Leads Us To Neglect A Man Of Merit That Induces Us To Admire A Fool. [fr., Du Meme Fonds Dont On Neglige Un Homme De Merite L'on Sait Encore Admirer Un Sot.]

A Tall, Well-built Man With A Deep Chest And Broad Shoulders Can Carry A Heavy Burden With Ease And Unconcern, And Still Keep One Hand Free; A Dwarf Would Be Crushed By Half That Weight. Thus Lofty Posts Make Great Men Greater Still, And Small Men Much Smaller.

A Pious Man Is One Who Would Be An Atheist If The King Were.

False Greatness Is Unsociable And Remote: Conscious Of Its Own Frailty, It Hides, Or At Least Averts Its Face, And Reveals Itself Only Enough To Create An Illusion And Not Be Recognized As The Meanness That It Really Is. True Greatness Is Free, Kind, Familiar And Popular; It Lets Itself Be Touched And Handled, It Loses Nothing By Being Seen At Close Quarters; The Better One Knows It, The More One Admires It.

Eloquence Is To The Sublime What The Whole Is To The Part.

It Is A Fool's Privilege To Laugh At An Intelligent Man.

When We Lavish Our Money We Rob Our Heir; When We Merely Save It We Rob Ourselves.

The Fears Of Old Age Disturb Us, Yet How Few Attain It?

A Man's Worth Is Estimated In This World According To His Conduct.

The Lives Of Heroes Have Enriched History, And History Has Adorned The Actions Of Heroes ; And Thus I Cannot Say Whether The Historians Are More Indebted To Those Who Provided Them With Such Noble Materials, Or Those Great Men To Their Historians.

That Man Is Good Who Does Good To Others; If He Suffers On Account Of The Good He Does, He Is Very Good; If He Suffers At The Hands Of Those To Whom He Has Done Good, Then His Goodness Is So Great That It Could Be Enhanced Only By Greater Sufferings; And If He Should Die At Their Hands, His Virtue Can Go No Further: It Is Heroic, It Is Perfect.

Cunning Is None Of The Best Nor Worst Qualities; It Floats Between Virtue And Vice; There Is Scarce Any Exigence Where It May Not, And Perhaps Ought Not To Be Supplied By Prudence.

High Birth Is A Gift Of Fortune Which Should Never Challenge Esteem Towards Those Who Receive It, Since It Costs Them Neither Study Nor Labor.

Favor Exalts A Man Above His Equals, But His Dismissal From That Favor Places Him Below Them.

We Hope To Grow Old And We Dread Old Age; That Is To Say, We Love Life And We Flee From Death.

The Mind, Like All Other Things, Will Become Impaired, The Sciences Are Its Food,--they Nourish, But At The Same Time They Consume It.

A Woman Is Easily Governed, If A Man Takes Her In Hand.

We Should Only Endeavour To Think And Speak Correctly Ourselves, Without Wishing To Bring Others Over To Our Taste And Opinions.

Make Me Chaste And To What Excesses Will Men Not Go For The Sake Of A Religion In Which They Believe So Little And Which They Practice So Imperfectly!

If This Life Is Unhappy, It Is A Burden To Us, Which It Is Difficult To Bear; If It Is In Every Respect Happy, It Is Dreadful To Be Deprived Of It; So That In Either Case The Result Is The Same, For We Must Exist In Anxiety And Apprehension.

During The Course Of Our Life We Now And Then Enjoy Some Pleasures So Inviting, And Have Some Encounters Of So Tender A Nature, That Though They Are Forbidden, It Is But Natural To Wish That They Were At Least Allowable. Nothing Can Be More Delightful, Except It Be To Abandon Them For Virtue's Sake.

Languages Are No More Than The Keys Of Sciences. He Who Despises One, Slights The Other.

Grief At The Absence Of A Loved One Is Happiness Compared To Life With A Person One Hates.

The Wise Person Often Shuns Society For Fear Of Being Bored.

To Be Among People One Loves, That's Sufficient; To Dream, To Speak To Them, To Be Silent Among Them, To Think Of Indifferent Things; But Among Them, Everything Is Equal.

A Long Disease Seems To Be A Halting Place Between Life And Death, That Death Itself May Be A Comfort To Those Who Die And To Those Who Are Left Behind.

False Modesty Is The Refinement Of Vanity. It Is A Lie.

Caprice In Women Often Infringes Upon The Rules Of Decency.

Children Have Neither Past Nor Future; They Enjoy The Present, Which Very Few Of Us Do.

We Rarely Repent Of Speaking Little, But Often Of Speaking Too Much.

When A Secret Is Revealed, It Is The Fault Of The Man Who Confided It.

Born Merely For The Purpose Of Digestion.

A Dogmatic Tone Is Generally Inspired By Abysmal Ignorance. The Man Who Knows Nothing Thinks He Is Informing Others Of Something Which He Has That Moment Learnt; The Man Who Knows A Great Deal Can Scarcely Believe That People Are Ignorant Of What He Is Telling Them, And Speaks More Diffidently.

There Are Certain Things In Which Mediocrity Is Intolerable: Poetry, Music, Painting, Public Eloquence. What Torture It Is To Hear A Frigid Speech Being Pompously Declaimed, Or Second-rate Verse Spoken With All A Bad Poet's Bombast!

A Well-born Man Is Fortunate, But So Is The Man About Whom People No Longer Ask, 'is He Well-born?'

We Must Confess That At Present The Rich Predominate, But The Future Will Be For The Virtuous And Ingenious.

A Party Spirit Betrays The Greatest Men To Act As Meanly As The Vulgar Herd.

The Great Slight The Men Of Wit, Who Have Nothing But Wit; The Men Of Wit Despise The Great, Who Have Nothing But Greatness; The Good Man Pities Them Both, If With Greatness Or Wit They Have Not Virtue.

Most Men Spend The First Half Of Their Lives Making The Second Half Miserable.

The Court Is Like A Palace Of Marble; It's Composed Of People Very Hard And Very Polished.

We Confide Our Secret To A Friend, But In Love It Escapes Us.

We Should Keep Silent About Those In Power; To Speak Well Of Them Almost Implies Flattery; To Speak Ill Of Them While They Are Alive Is Dangerous, And When They Are Dead Is Cowardly.

Misers Are Neither Relations, Nor Friends, Nor Citizens, Nor Christians, Nor Perhaps Even Human Beings.

A Prince Wants Only The Pleasure Of Private Life To Complete His Happiness.

We Can Recognize The Dawn And The Decline Of Love By The Uneasiness We Feel When Alone Together.

I Do Not Doubt But That Genuine Piety Is The Spring Of Peace Of Mind; It Enables Us To Bear The Sorrows Of Life, And Lessens The Pangs Of Death: The Same Cannot Be Said Of Hypocrisy.

At The Beginning And At The End Of Love, The Two Lovers Are Embarrassed To Find Themselves Alone.

An Assembly Of The States, A Court Of Justice, Shows Nothing So Serious And Grave As A Table Of Gamesters Playing Very High; A Melancholy Solicitude Clouds Their Looks; Envy And Rancor Agitate Their Minds While The Meeting Lasts, Without Regard To Friendship, Alliances, Birth Or Distinctions.

Logic Is The Art Of Making Truth Prevail.

If Some Persons Died, And Others Did Not Die, Death Would Be A Terrible Affliction.

When A Man Puts On A Character He Is A Stranger To, There's As Much Difference Between What He Appears, And What He Is Really In Himself, As There Is Between A Vizor And A Face.

Great Things Only Require To Be Simply Told, For They Are Spoiled By Emphasis; But Little Things Should Be Clothed In Lofty Language, As They Are Only Kept Up By Expression, Tone Of Voice, And Style Of Delivery.

Two Quite Opposite Qualities Equally Bias Our Minds - Habits And Novelty.

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.

How Happy The Station Which Every Moment Furnishes Opportunities Of Doing Good To Thousands! How Dangerous That Which Every Moment Exposes To The Injuring Of Millions!

There Are Certain People Who So Ardently And Passionately Desire A Thing, That From Dread Of Losing It They Leave Nothing Undone To Make Them Lose It.

There Is As Much Trickery Required To Grow Rich By A Stupid Book As There Is Folly In Buying It.

A Man Who Knows The Court Is Master Of His Gestures, Of His Eyes And Of His Face; He Is Profound, Impenetratable; He Dissimulates Bad Offices, Smiles At His Enemies, Controls His Irritation, Disguises His Passions, Belies His Heartm Speaks And Acts Against His Feelings.

Logic Is The Art Of Convincing Us Some Truth.

Every Hour In Itself, As It Respects Us In Particular, Is The Only One We Can Call Our Own.

It Requires More Than Mere Genius To Be An Author.

The Pleasure A Man Of Honor Enjoys In The Consciousness Of Having Performed His Duty Is A Reward He Pays Himself For All His Pains.

Both As To High And Low Indifferently, Men Are Prepossessed, Charmed, Fascinated By Success; Successful Crimes Are Praised Very Much Like Virtue Itself, And Good Fortune Is Not Far From Occupying The Place Of The Whole Cycle Of Virtues. It Must Be An Atrocious Act, A Base And Hateful Deed, Which Success Would Not Be Able To Justify.

Most Men Employ The First Part Of Life To Make The Other Part Miserable. [fr., La Plupart Des Hommes Emploient La Premiere Part Vie A Rendre L'autre Miserable.]

The Reason That Women Do Not Love One Another Is - Men.

Love One Another

The Regeneration Of Society Is The Regeneration Of Society By Individual Education.

The Fool Only Is Troublesome. A Plan Of Sense Perceives When He Is Agreeable Or Tiresome; He Disappears The Very Minute Before He Would Have Been Thought To Have Stayed Too Long.

This Great Misfortune, To Be Incapable Of Solitude.

It Is In Vain To Ridicule A Rich Fool, For The Laughers Will Be On His Side.

Out Of Difficulties Grow Miracles.

Men Blush Less For Their Crimes Than For Their Weaknesses And Vanity. [fr., Les Hommes Rougissent Moins De Leur Crimes Que De Leurs Faiblesses Et De Leur Vanite.]

Criticism Is Often Not A Science; It Is A Craft, Requiring More Good Health Than Wit, More Hard Work Than Talent, More Habit Than Native Genius. In The Hands Of A Man Who Has Read Widely But Lacks Judgment, Applied To Certain Subjects It Can Corrupt Both Its Readers And The Writer Himself.

There Is What Is Called The Highway To Posts And Honor, And There Is A Cross And By Way, Which Is Much The Shortest.

It Is Easier To Enrich Ourselves With A Thousand Virtues, Than To Correct Ourselves Of A Single Fault.

It Is A Great Misfortune Not To Possess Sufficient Wit To Speak Well, Nor Sufficient Judgment To Keep Silent.

The Duty Of A Judge Is To Administer Justice, But His Practice Is To Delay It

One Should Never Risk A Joke, Even Of The Mildest And Most Unexceptional Charters, Except Among People Of Culture And Wit.

Let Us Not Envy Some Men Their Accumulated Riches; Their Burden Would Be Too Heavy For Us; We Could Not Sacrifice, As They Do, Health, Quiet, Honor And Conscience, To Obtain Them: It Is To Pay So Dear From Them That The Bargain Is A Loss.

Cheats Easily Believe Others As Bad As Themselves; There Is No Deceiving Them, Nor Do They Long Deceive.

An Egotist Will Always Speak Of Himself, Either In Praise Or In Censure, But A Modest Man Ever Shuns Making Himself The Subject Of His Conversation.

Modesty Is To Merit, What Shade Is To Figures In A Picture; It Gives It Strength And Makes It Stand Out.

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 Same Vices Which Are Huge And Insupportable In Others We Do Not Feel In Ourselves.

Great Things Astonish Us, And Small Dishearten Us. Custom Makes Both Familiar.

The Opposite Of What Is Noised About Concerning Men And Things Is Often The Truth. [fr., Le Contraire Des Bruits Qui Courent Des Affaires Ou Des Personnes Est Souvent La Verite.]

If Men Wish To Be Held In Esteem, They Must Associate With Those Only Who Are Estimable.

A Man Of The World Must Seem To Be What He Wishes To Be Thought.

It Is No More In Our Power To Love Always Than It Was Not To Love At All.

The Spendthrift Robs His Heirs The Miser Robs Himself.

The Nearer We Approach Great Men, The Clearer We See That They Are Men.

Too Great Carelessness, Equally With Excess In Dress, Multiplies The Wrinkles Of Old Age, And Makes Its Decay Still More Conspicuous.

The Nearer We Come To Great Men The More Clearly We See That They Are Only Men. They Rarely Seem Great To Their Valets.

A Man Often Runs The Risk Of Throwing Away A Witticism If He Admits That It Is His Own.

For Some People, Speaking And Giving Offence Are One And The Same Thing. They Are Spiteful And Bitter; Their Style Is Infused With Gall And Wormwood; Mockery, Abuse And Insults Flow From Their Lips Like Spittle.

It Is A Great Misfortune Neither To Have Enough Wit To Talk Well Nor Enough Judgment To Be Silent.

It Is A Proof Of Boorishness To Confer A Favor With A Bad Grace; It Is The Act Of Giving That Is Hard And Painful. How Little Does A Smile Cost?

It's Motive Alone Which Gives Character To The Actions Of Men.

Party Loyalty Lowers The Greatest Men To The Petty Level Of The Masses.

You May Drive A Dog Off The King's Armchair, And It Will Climb Into The Preacher's Pulpit; He Views The World Unmoved, Unembarrassed, Unabashed.

A Man Who Is Free And Unmarried, If He Has Some Intelligence, Can Rise Above His Fortune, Mingle In Society And Meet The Best People On An Equal Footing. This Is Harder For A Married Man: Marriage, It Seems, Confines Every Man To His Proper Rank.

The Exact Contrary Of What Is Generally Believed Is Often The Truth.

False Glory Is The Rock Of Vanity; It Seduces Men To Affect Esteem By Things Which They Indeed Possess, But Which Are Frivolous, And Which For A Man To Value Himself On Would Be A Scandalous Error.

Don't Wait To Be Happy To Laugh... You May Die And Never Have Laughed.

A Modest Man Never Talks Of Himself.

Whatever Is Certain In Death Is Slightly Alleviated By What Is Not So Infallible; The Time When It Shall Happen Is Undefined, But It Is More Or Less Connected With The Infinite, And What We Call Eternity.

If Poverty Is The Mother Of All Crimes, Lack Of Intelligence Is The Father.

A Man Can Deceive A Woman By His Sham Attachment To Her Provided He Does Not Have A Real Attachment Elsewhere.

It Is The Glory And Merit Of Some Men To Write Well And Of Others Not To Write At All.

The Sweetest Of All Sounds Is That Of The Voice Of The Woman We Love.

The Art Of Conversation Consists Far Less In Displaying Much Wit Oneself Than In Helping Others To Be Witty: The Man Who Leaves Your Company Pleased With Himself And His Own Wit Is Very Well Pleased With You.

Amongst Such As Out Of Cunning Hear All And Talk Little, Be Sure To Talk Less; Or If You Must Talk, Say Little.

A Position Of Eminence Makes A Great Person Greater And A Small Person Less.

It Is Because Of Men That Women Dislike One Another.

There Is No Excess In The World So Commendable As Excessive Gratitude.

The Great Charm Of Conversation Consists Less In The Display Of One's Own Wit And Intelligence Than In The Power To Draw Forth The Resources Of Others.

When, After Having Read A Work, Loftier Thoughts Arise In Your Mind And Noble And Heartfelt Feelings Animate You, Do Not Look For Any Other Rule To Judge It By; It Is Fine And Written In A Masterly Manner.

If It Be Usual To Be Strongly Impressed By Things That Are Scarce, Why Are We So Little Impressed By Virtue?

A Woman With Eyes Only For One Person, Or With Eyes Always Averted From Him, Creates Exactly The Same Impression.

The Flatterer Does Not Think Highly Enough Of Himself Or Of Others.

The Events We Most Desire Do Not Happen; Or, If They Do, It Is Neither In The Time Nor In The Circumstances When They Would Have Given Us Extreme Pleasure.

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.

Birth Life And Death

It Is Difficult For A Proud Man Ever To Forgive A Person Who Has Found Him At Fault, And Who Has Good Grounds For Complaining Of Him; His Pride Is Not Assuaged Till He Has Regained The Advantages He Lost And Put The Other Person In The Wrong.

To Forget Someone Means To Think Of Him.

Avoid Making Yourself The Subject Of Conversation.

There Are Only Two Ways By Which To Rise In This World, Either By One's Own Industry Or By The Stupidity Of Others.

The Generality Of Men Expend The Early Part Of Their Lives In Contributing To Render The Latter Part Miserable.

How Sweet, How Passing Sweet, Is Solitude!

I Take Sanctuary In An Honest Mediocrity.

The Beginning And The End Of Love Are Both Marked By Embarrassment When The Two Find Themselves Alone. [fr., Le Commencement Et Le Declin De L'amour Se Font Sentir Par L'embarras Ou L'on Est De Se Trouver Seuls.]

Nothing Is Easier For Passion Than To Overcome Reason, But The Greatest Triumph Is To Conquer A Man's Own Interests.

It Is Weakness Which Makes Us Hate An Enemy And Seek Revenge, And It Is Idleness That Pacifies Us And Causes Us To Neglect It.

Children Enjoy The Present Because They Have Neither A Past Nor A Future.

There Are Some Souls So Base And Filthy That They Love Gain And Interest As Noble Souls Love Fame And Virtue, Knowing One Pleasure Only, That Of Making Money Or Of Not Losing It; Anxious And Avid For Their Ten Per Cent; Entirely Preoccupied With What Is Owed Them; Forever Concerned About The Depreciation Or Discredit Of Money; Buried, And As It Were Engulfed, Amid Contracts, Title-deeds And Parchments. Such People Are Neither Parents, Friends, Citizens Or Christians, Nor, Perhaps, Even Men; They Merely Have Money.

A Man May Doubt Of God's Existence When He Is In Good Health, Just As He May Doubt Whether His Relation With A Harlot Is Sinful. When He Falls Ill, When Dropsy Develops, He Leaves His Concubine, And He Believes In God.

We Seldom Repent Of Speaking Little, Very Often Of Speaking Too Much: A Vulgar And Trite Maxim, Which All The World Knows And, But Which All The World Does Not Practice

Avoid Lawsuits Beyond All Things; They Pervert Your Conscience, Impair Your Health, And Dissipate Your Property.

One Seeks To Make The Loved One Entirely Happy, Or, If That Cannot Be, Entirely Wretched.

Even The Best Intentioned Of Great Men Need A Few Scoundrels Around Them; There Are Some Things You Cannot Ask An Honest Ma To Do.

When We Have Run Through All Forms Of Government, Without Partiality To That We Were Born Under, We Are At A Loss With Which To Side; They Are All A Compound Of Good And Evil. It Is Therefore Most Reasonable And Safe To Value That Of Our Own Country Above All Others, And To Submit To It.

We Ought Not To Make Those People Our Enemies Who Might Have Become Our Friends, If We Had Only Known Them Better.

A Good Author, And One Who Writes Carefully, Often Discovers That The Expression Of Which He Has Been In Search Without Being Able To Discover It, And Which He Has At Last Found, Is That Which Was The Most Simple, The Most Natural, And Which Seems As If It Ought To Have Presented Itself At Once, Without Effort, To The Mind.

Manners Carry The World For The Moment, Character For All Time.

Days, Months, Years Fly Away, And Irrecoverably Sink In The Abyss Of Time.

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.

Women Are At Little Trouble To Express What They Do Not Feel; But Men Are Still At Less To Express What They Do Feel.

A Heap Of Epithets Is Poor Praise: The Praise Lies In The Facts, And In The Way Of Telling Them.

An Inconstant Woman Is One Who Is No Longer In Love; A False Woman Is One Who Is Already In Love With Another Person; A Fickle Woman Is She Who Neither Knows Whom She Loves Nor Whether She Loves Or Not; And The Indifferent Woman, One Who Does Not Love At All.

Life Is A Kind Of Sleep: Old Men Sleep Longest, Nor Begin To Wake But When They Are To Die.

He Who Will Not Listen To Any Advice, Nor Be Corrected In His Writings, Is A Rank Pedant.

Life At Court Does Not Satisfy A Man, But It Keeps Him From Being Satisfied With Anything Else.

Women Become Attached To Men By The Intimacies They Grant Them; Men Are Cured Of Their Love By The Same Intimacies.

Among Some People Arrogance Supplies The Place Of Grandeur, Inhumanity Of Decision, And Roguery Of Intelligence.

It Is Motive Alone That Gives Real Value To The Actions Of Men, And Disinterestedness Puts The Cap To It.

They Who, Without Any Previous Knowledge Of Us, Think Amiss Of Us, Do Us No Harm; They Attack Not Us, But The Phantom Of Their Own Imagination.

A Person's Worth In This World Is Estimated According To The Value He Puts On Himself.

The Court Is Like A Palace Built Of Marble; I Mean That It Is Made Up Of Very Hard But Very Polished People. [fr., La Cour Est Comme Un Edifice Bati De Marbre; Je Veux Dire Qu'elle Est Composee D'hommes Fort Durs Mais Fort Polis.]

I Am Not Surprised That There Are Gambling Houses, Like So Many Snares Laid For Human Avarice; Like Abysses Where Many A Man's Money Is Engulfed And Swallowed Up Without Any Hope Of Return; Like Frightful Rocks Against Which The Gamblers Are Thrown And Perish.

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