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A Man Of Variable Mind Is Not One Man, But Several Men In One; He Multiplies Himself As Often As He Changes His Taste And Manners; He Is Not This Minute What He Was The Last, And Will Not Be The Next What He Is Now; He Is His Own Successor.

-Jean De La Bruyere

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A Man Of Variable

Jean De La Bruyere

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A Man Of Variable Mind Is Not One Man, But Several Men In One; He Multiplies Himself As Often As He Changes His Taste And Manners; He Is Not This Minute What He Was The Last, And Will Not Be The Next What He Is Now; He Is His Own Successor.

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He Who Has Lived A Day Has Lived An Age.

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

A Look Of Intelligence Is What Regularity Of Features Is To Women: It Is A Styule Of Beauty To Which The Most Vain May Aspire. [fr., L'air Spirituel Est Dans Les Hommes Ce Que La Regularite Des Traits Est Dans Les Femmes: C'est Le Genre De Beaute Ou Les Plus Vains Puissent Aspirer.]

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.

We Are Valued In This World At The Rate We Desire To Be Valued.

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

Keeping Secrets

He Who Only Writes To Suit The Taste Of The Age, Considers Himself More Than His Writings. We Should Always Aim At Perfection, And Then Posterity Will Do Us That Justice Which Sometimes Our Contemporaries Refuse Us.

The Favor Of Princes Does Not Preclude The Existence Of Merit, And Yet Does Not Prove That It Exists. [fr., La Faveur Des Princes N'exclut Pas Le Merite, Et Ne Le Suppose Pas Aussi.]

Generosity Lies Less In Giving Much Than In Giving At The Right Moment.

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

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

A Lovely Countenance Is The Fairest Of All Sights, And The Sweetest Harmony Is The Sound Of The Voice Of Her Whom We Love.

The Most Accomplished Literary Work Would Be Reduced To Nothing By Carping Criticism, If The Author Would Listen To All Critics And Allow Every One To Erase The Passage Which Pleases Him The Least.

The Finest Pleasure Is Kindness To Others.

Logic Is The Art Of Convincing Us Some Truth.

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

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

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

For A Woman To Be At Once A Coquette And A Bigot Is More Than The Humblest Of Husbands Can Bear; She Should Mercifully Choose Between The Two.

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.

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

There Are Few Wives So Perfect As Not To Give Their Husbands At Least Once A Day Good Reason To Repent Of Ever Having Married, Or At Least Of Envying Those Who Are Unmarried.

They That Have Lived A Single Day Have Lived An Age.

The Spendthrift Robs His Heirs The Miser Robs Himself.

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.

A Man Is Thirty Years Old Before He Has Any Settled Thoughts Of His Fortune; It Is Not Completed Before Fifty. He Falls To Building In His Old Age, And Dies By The Time His House Is In A Condition To Be Painted And Glazed.

All Of Our Unhappiness Comes From Our Inability To Be Alone.

A Mediocre Mind Thinks It Writes Divinely; A Good Mind Thinks It Writes Reasonably.

As Long As Men Are Liable To Die And Are Desirous To Live, A Physician Will Be Made Fun Of, But He Will Be Well Paid.

Everything Has Been Said, And We Have Come Too Late, Now That Men Have Been Living And Thinking For Seven Thousand Years And More.

A Man Has Made Great Progress In Cunning When He Does Not Seem Too Clever To Others.

Banter Is Often A Proof Of Want Of Intelligence.

To Forget Someone Means To Think Of Him.

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

There Is Not In The World So Toilsome A Trade As The Pursuit Of Fame; Life Concludes Before You Have So Much As Sketched Your Work.

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

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.

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 Very Impossibility In Which I Find Myself To Prove That God Is Not, Discloses To Me His Existence. [fr., L'impossibilite Ou Je Suis De Prouver Que Dieu N'est Pas, Me Decouvre Son Existence.]

Anything Is A Temptation To Those Who Dread It.

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

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

Love Has This In Common With Scruples, That It Becomes Embittered By The Reflections And The Thoughts That Beset Us To Free Ourselves.

One Faithful Friend Is Enough For A Man's Self, 'tis Much To Meet With Such An One, Yet We Can't Have Too Many For The Sake Of Others.

We Should Laugh Before Being Happy, For Fear Of Dying Without Having Laughed.

As Riches And Honor Forsake A Man, We Discover Him To Be A Fool, But Nobody Could Find It Out In His Prosperity.

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

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.

A Judge's Duty Is To Grant Justice, But His Practice Is To Delay It: Even Those Judges Who Know Their Duty Adhere To The General Practice.

I Never Have Wit Until I Am Below Stairs. [fr., Je N'ai Jamais D'esprit Qu'au Bas De L'escalier.]

The Majority Of Women Have No Principles Of Their Own; They Are Guided By The Heart, And Depend For Their Own Conduct, Upon That Of The Men They Love.

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

A Simple Garb Is The Proper Costume Of The Vulgar; It Is Cut For Them, And Exactly Suits Their Measure, But It Is An Ornament For Those Who Have Filled Up Their Lives With Great Deeds. I Liken Them To Beauty In Dishabille, But More Bewitching On That Account.

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.]

A Show Of A Certain Amount Of Honesty Is In Any Profession Or Business The Surest Way Of Growing Rich.

The Whole Genius Of An Author Consists In Describing Well, And Delineating Character Well. Homer, Plato, Virgil, Horace Only Excel Other Writers By Their Expressions And Images; We Must Indicate What Is True If We Mean To Write Naturally, Forcibly And Delicately.

I Am Told So Many Ill Things Of A Man, And I See So Few In Him, That I Begin To Suspect He Has A Real But Troublesome Merit, As Being Likely To Eclipse That Of Others.

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

A Wise Man Neither Suffers Himself To Be Governed, Nor Attempts To Govern Others.

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

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

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

Courtly Manners Are Contagious; They Are Caught At Versailles.

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

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

I Would Not Like To See A Person Who Is Sober, Moderate, Chaste And Just Say That There Is No God. They Would Speak Disinterestedly At Least, But Such A Person Is Not To Be Found.

When A Plain-looking Woman Is Loved, It Is Certain To Be Very Passionately ; For Either Her Influence On Her Lover Is Irresistible, Or She Has Some Secret And More Irresistible Charms Than Those Of Beauty.

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.

One Must Laugh Before One Is Happy, Or One May Die Without Ever Laughing At All.

It Is Through Madness That We Hate An Enemy, And Think Of Revenging Ourselves; And It Is Through Indolence That We Are Appeased, And Do Not Revenge Ourselves.

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.

A Man Only Goes And Confesses His Faults To The World When His Self Will Not Acknowledge Or Listen To Them. Wyndham Lewis, Tarr Two Persons Will Not Be Friends Long If They Are Not Inclined To Pardon Each Other's Little Failings.

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.

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.

He Who Can Wait For What He Desires Takes The Course Not To Be Exceedingly Grieved If He Fails Of It; He, On The Contrary, Who Labors After A Thing Too Impatiently Thinks The Success When It Comes Is Not A Recompense Equal To All The Pains He Has Been At About It.

To Bewail The Loss Of A Person We Love Is A Happiness Compared With The Necessity Of Living With One We Hate.

There Exist Some Evils So Terrible And Some Misfortunes So Horrible That We Dare Not Think Of Them, Whilst Their Very Aspect Makes Us Shudder; But If They Happen To Fall On Us, We Find Ourselves Stronger Than We Imagined, We Grapple With Our Ill Luck, And Behave Better Than We Expected We Should.

Young People Are Dazzled By The Brilliancy Of Antithesis, And Employ It. Matter-of-fact Men, And Those Who Like Precision, Naturally Fall Into Comparisons And Metaphor. Sprightly Natures, Full Of Fire, And Whom A Boundless Imagination Carries Beyond All Rules, And Even What Is Reasonable, Cannot Rest Satisfied Even With Hyperbole. As For The Sublime, It Is Only Great Geniuses And Those Of The Very Highest Order That Are Able To Rise To Its Height.

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

Profane Eloquence Is Transfered From The Bar, Where Le Maitre, Pucelle, And Fourcroy Formerly Practised It, And Where It Has Become Obsolete, To The Pulpit, Where It Is Out Of Place.

Making A Book Is A Craft, Like Making A Clock; It Needs More Than Native Wit To Be An Author.

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

It Is Worse To Apprehend Than To Suffer.

A Man Reveals His Character Even In The Simplest Things He Does.

Children Have Neither Past Nor Future; And That Which Seldom Happens To Us, They Rejoice In The Present. [fr., Les Enfants N'ont Ni Passe Ni Avenir; Et, Ce Qui Ne Nous Arrive Guere, Ils Jouissent Du Present.]

The Greatest Part Of Mankind Employ Their First Years To Make Their Last Miserable.

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

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

When A Book Raises Your Spirit, And Inspires You With Noble And Manly Thoughts, Seek For No Other Test Of Its Excellence. It Is Good, And Made By A Good Workman.

A Man Is Rich Whose Income Is Larger Than His Expenses, And He Is Poor If His Expenses Are Greater Than His Income.

Children Are Contemptuous, Haughty, Irritable, Envious, Sneaky, Selfish, Lazy, Flighty, Timid, Liars And Hypocrites, Quick To Laugh And Cry, Extreme In Expressing Joy And Sorrow, Especially About Trifles, They'll Do Anything To Avoid Pain But They Enjoy Inflicting It: Little Men Already.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Wit Is The God Of Moments, But Genius Is The God Of Ages.

How Many Men Are Like Trees, Already Strong And Full Grown, Which Are Transplanted Into Some Gardens, To The Astonishment Of Those People Who Behold Them In These Fine Spots, Where They Never Saw Them Grow, And Who Neither Know Their Beginning Nor Their Progress!

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.

Nothing Keeps Longer Than A Middling Fortune, And Nothing Melts Away Sooner Than A Large One.

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

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 One's Knowledge, And What Is To Be Their End? What Can Be More Deeply Disheartening Than To Wonder Whether One's Soul Is, Perhaps, A Material Thing, Like A Stone Or A Reptile, Corruptible Like These Base Creatures? Is There Not More Strength And Greatness Of Mind In Admitting The Idea Of A Being Superior To All Other Beings, Who Has Made Them All And To Whom All Owe Their Existence; Of A Being Supremely Perfect, Who Is Pure, Who Had No Beginning And Can Have No Ending, Of Whom Our Soul Is The Image And, So To Speak, A Portion, Being A Spiritual And Immortal Thing?

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

No Road Is To Long For Him Who Advances Slowly And Does Not Hurry And No Attainment Is Beyond His Reach Who Equips Himself With Patience To Achieve It

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

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.

There Are Certain Things In Which Mediocrity Is Not To Be Endured, Such As Poetry, Music, Painting, Public Speaking.

Public Speaking

Jesting, Often, Only Proves A Want Of Intellect. [fr., La Moquerie Est Souvent Une Indigence D'esprit.]

A Vain Man Finds His Account In Speaking Good Or Evil Of Himself.

Discourtesy Does Not Spring Merely From One Bad Quality, But From Several--from Foolish Vanity, From Ignorance Of What Is Due To Others, From Indolence, From Stupidity, From Distraction Of Thought, From Contempt Of Others, From Jealousy.

The Fear Of Old Age Disturbs Us, Yet We Are Not Certain Of Becoming Old.

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

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.]

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

The Best Way To Get On In The World Is To Make People Believe It's To Their Advantage To Help You.

There Is No Employment In The World So Laborious As That Of Making To One's Self A Great Name; Life Ends Before One Has Scarcely Made The First Rough Draught Of His Work.

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 Most Exquisite Pleasure Is Giving Pleasure To Others.

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

Duty Is What Goes Most Against The Grain, Because In Doing That We Do Only What We Are Strictly Obliged To, And Are Seldom Much Praised For It.

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

Sudden Love Is Latest Cured.

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

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.]

Politeness Makes One Appear Outwardly As They Should Be Within.

Two Persons Cannot Long Be Friends If They Cannot Forgive Each Other's Little Failings.

Love Begins With Love ; And The Warmest Friendship Cannot Change Even To The Coldest Love.

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

There Is Nothing Men Are So Anxious To Keep, And Yet Are So Careless About, As Life.

Love, Slow And Gradual In Its Growth, Is Too Much Like Friendship Ever To Be A Violent Passion.

Languages Are The Keys Of Science.

It Is More Or Less Rude To Scorn Indiscriminately All Kinds Of Praise; We Ought To Be Proud Of That Which Comes From Honest Men, Who Praise Sincerely Those Things In Us Which Are Really Commendable.

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.

To Make A Book Is As Much A Trade As To Make A Clock; Something More Than Intelligence Is Required To Become An Author.

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

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

Love And Friendship Exclude Each Other.

Love And Friendship

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

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

Widows, Like Ripe Fruit, Drop Easily From Their Perch.

There Are Some Extraordinary Fathers, Who Seem, During The Whole Course Of Their Lives, To Be Giving Their Children Reasons For Being Consoled At Their Death.

All The Worth Of Some People Lies In Their Name; Upon A Closer Inspection It Dwindles To Nothing, But From A Distance It Deceives Us.

When What You Read Elevates Your Mind And Fills You With Noble Aspirations, Look For No Other Rule By Which To Judge A Book; It Is Good, And Is The Work Of A Master-hand.

I Take Sanctuary In An Honest Mediocrity.

A Wise Man Is Not Governed By Others, Nor Does He Try To Govern Them; He Prefers That Reason Alone Prevail.

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.

The Great Gift Of Conversation Lies Less In Displaying It Ourselves Than In Drawing It Out Of Others. He Who Leaves Your Company Pleased With Himself And His Own Cleverness Is Perfectly Well Pleased With You.

The Highest Reach Of A News-writer Is An Empty Reasoning On Policy, And Vain Conjectures On The Public Management.

Death Happens But Once, Yet We Feel It Every Moment Of Our Lives; It Is Worse To Dread It Than To Suffer It.

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

A Modest Man Never Talks Of Himself.

It Is Boorish To Live Ungraciously: The Giving Is The Hardest Part; What Does It Cost To Add A Smile?

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.

One Mark Of A Second-rate Mind Is To Be Always Telling Stories.

A Blockhead Cannot Come In, Nor Go Away, Nor Sit, Nor Rise, Nor Stand, Like A Man Of Sense.

Discretion Is The Perfection Of Reason, And A Guide To Us In All The Duties Of Life. It Is Only Found In Men Of Sound Sense And Understanding.

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

The Rarest Things In The World, Next To A Spirit Of Discernment, Are Diamonds And Pearls. [fr., Apres L'esprit De Discernement, Ce Qu'il Y A Au Monde De Plus Rare, Ce Sont Les Diamants Et Les Perles.]

Caprice In Woman Is The Antidote To Beauty.

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

We Seek Our Happiness Outside Ourselves, And In The Opinion Of Men We Know To Be Flatterers, Insincere, Unjust, Full Of Envy, Caprice And Prejudice.

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

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

There Is A False Modesty, Which Is Vanity; A False Glory, Which Is Levity; A False Grandeur, Which Is Meanness; A False Virtue, Which Is Hypocrisy, And A False Wisdom, Which Is Prudery.

No Vice Exists Which Does Not Pretend To Be More Or Less Like Some Virtue, And Which Does Not Take Advantage Of This Assumed Resemblance.

The Shortest And Best Way To Make Your Fortune Is To Let People See Clearly That It Is In Their Interest To Promote Yours.

There Are But Two Ways Of Rising In The World: Either By One's Own Industry Or Profiting By The Foolishness Of Others. [fr., Il N'y A Au Monde Que Deux Manieres De S'elever, Ou Par Sa Propre Industrie, Ou Par L'imbecilite Des Autres.]

A Vain Man Finds It Wise To Speak Good Or Ill Of Himself; A Modest Man Does Not Talk Of Himself.

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.

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

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?

In Friendship We Only See Those Faults Which May Be Prejudicial To Our Friends. In Love We See No Faults But Those By Which We Suffer Ourselves.

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

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

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

The Punishment Of A Criminal Is An Example To The Rabble; But Every Decent Man Is Concerned If An Innocent Person Is Condemned.

Innocent Person

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.

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

If It Be True That A Man Is Rich Who Wants Nothing, A Wise Man Is A Very Rich Man.

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.

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

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

Some Young People Do Not Sufficiently Understand The Advantages Of Natural Charms, And How Much They Would Gain By Trusting To Them Entirely. They Weaken These Gifts Of Heaven, So Rare And Fragile, By Affected Manners And An Awkward Imitation. Their Tones And Their Gait Are Borrowed; They Study Their Attitudes Before The Glass Until They Have Lost All Trace Of Natural Manner, And, With All Their Pains, They Please But Little.

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.

Criticism Is As Often A Trade As A Science, Requiring, As It Does, More Health Than Wit, More Labour Than Capacity, More Practice Than Genius.

A Guilty Man Is Punished As An Example For The Mob; An Innocent Man Convicted Is The Business Of Every Honest Citizen.

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

Praise, Of All Things, Is The Most Powerful Excitement To Commendable Actions, And Animates Us In Our Enterprises.

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

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.

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

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

Avoid Making Yourself The Subject Of Conversation.

Life Is Short And Tedious, And Is Wholly Spent In Wishing; We Trust To Find Rest And Enjoyment At Some Future Time, Often At An Age When Our Best Blessings, Youth And Health, Have Already Left Us. When At Last I That Time Has Arrived, It Surprises Us In The Midst Of Fresh Desires; We Have Got No Farther When We Are Attacked By A Fever Which Kills Us; If We Had Been Cured, It Would Only Have Been To Give Us More Time For Other Desires.

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.

Pure Friendship Is Something Which Men Of An Inferior Intellect Can Never Taste.

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.]

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

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!

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