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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.

-Jean De La Bruyere

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A Man Starts Upon

Jean De La Bruyere

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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.

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

Grief That Is Dazed And Speechless Is Out Of Fashion: The Modern Woman Mourns Her Husband Loudly And Tells You The Whole Story Of His Death, Which Distresses Her So Much That She Forgets Not The Slightest Detail About It.

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.

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

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.

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

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

A Great Mind Is Above Insults, Injustice, Grief, And Raillery, And Would Be Invulnerable Were It Not Open To Compassion.

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.

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.

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

A Man Of Moderate Understanding, Thinks He Writes Divinely: A Man Of Good Understanding, Thinks He Writes Reasonably.

A Man Unattached And Without Wife, If He Have Any Genius At All, May Raise Himself Above His Original Position, May Mingle With The World Of Fashion, And Hold Himself On A Level With The Highest; This Is Less Easy For Him Who Is Engaged; It Seems As If Marriage Put The Whole World In Their Proper Rank.

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

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

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

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

It Is A Sad Thing When Men Have Neither Enough Intelligence To Speak Well Nor Enough Sense To Hold Their Tongues; This Is The Root Of All Impertinence.

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

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.

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.

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

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

The Spendthrift Robs His Heirs The Miser Robs Himself.

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.

In All Conditions Of Life A Poor Man Is A Near Neighbor To An Honest One, And A Rich Man Is As Little Removed From A Knave.

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.

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

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.

Life Is Short, If We Are Only Said To Live When We Enjoy Ourselves; And If We Were Merely To Count Up The Hours We Spent Agreeably, A Great Number Of Years Would Hardly Make Up A Life Of A Few Months.

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

Public Speaking

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

There Are Some Who Speak One Moment Before They Think

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

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

Every Man Is Valued In This World As He Shows By His Conduct That He Wishes To Be Valued.

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

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.

Rarely Do They Appear Great Before Their Valets.

Incivility Is Not A Vice Of The Soul, But The Effect Of Several Vices; Of Vanity, Ignorance Of Duty, Laziness, Stupidity, Distraction, Contempt Of Others, And Jealousy.

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

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

It Seems To Me That The Spirit Of Politeness Is A Certain Attention In Causing That, By Our Words And By Our Manners, Others May Be Content With Us And With Themselves.

Anything Is A Temptation To Those Who Dread It.

There Is Speaking Well, Speaking Easily, Speaking Justly And Speaking Seasonably: It Is Offending Against The Last, To Speak Of Entertainments Before The Indigent; Of Sound Limbs And Health Before The Infirm; Of Houses And Lands Before One Who Has Not So Much As A Dwelling; In A Word, To Speak Of Your Prosperity Before The Miserable; This Conversation Is Cruel, And The Comparison Which Naturally Arises In Them Betwixt Their Condition And Yours Is Excruciating.

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

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.

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.

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.

Friendship Can Exist Between Persons Of Different Sexes, Without Any Coarse Or Sensual Feelings; Yet A Woman Always Looks Upon A Man As A Man, And So A Man Will Look Upon A Woman As A Woman.

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

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

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.

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

Let Us Not Complain Against Men Because Otheir Rudeness, Their Ingratitude, Their Injustice, Their Arrogance, Their Love Oself, Their Forgetfulness Oothers. They Are So Made. Such Is Their Nature.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Discretion Is The Perfection Of Reason, And A Guide To Us In All The Duties Of Life; Cunning Is A Kind Of Instinct, That Only Looks Out After Our Immediate Interests And Welfare. Discretion Is Only Found In Men Of Strong Sense And Good Understanding; Cunning Is Often To Be Met With In Brutes Themselves, And In Persons Who Are But The Fewest Removes From Them.

The Pleasure Of Criticizing Takes Away From Us The Pleasure Of Being Moved By Some Very Fine Things.

He Who Knows How To Wait For What He Desires Does Not Feel Very Desperate If He Fails In Obtaining It; And He, On The Contrary, Who Is Very Impatient In Procuring A Certain Thing, Takes So Much Pains About It, That, Even When He Is Successful, He Does Not Think Himself Sufficiently Rewarded.

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

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.

Dissimulation, Even The Most Innocent In Its Nature, Is Ever Productive Of Embarrassment; Whether The Design Is Evil Or Not Artifice Is Always Dangerous And Almost Inevitably Disgraceful.

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 Making Yourself The Subject Of Conversation.

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

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

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.

Logic Is The Technique By Which We Add Conviction To Truth.

Piety With Some People, But Especially With Women, Is Either A Passion, Or An Infirmity Of Age, Or A Fashion Which Must Be Followed.

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

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

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

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

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.

He Who Has Lived A Day Has Lived An Age.

Men Make The Best Friends.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

We Dread Old Age, Which Are Not Sure Of Being Able To Attain. [fr., L'on Craint La Vieillesse, Que L'on N'est Pas Sur De Pouvoir Atteindre.]

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.

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.

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.

I Take Sanctuary In An Honest Mediocrity.

Banter Is Often A Proof Of Want Of Intelligence.

Such A Great Misfortune, Not To Be Able To Be Alone.

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

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!

A Man Without Characteristics Is A Most Insipid Character.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

The State Not Seldom Tolerates A Comparatively Great Evil To Keep Out Millions Of Lesser Ills And Inconveniences Which Otherwise Would Be Inevitable And Without Remedy.

Laziness Begat Wearisomeness, And This Put Men In Quest Of Diversions, Play And Company, On Which However It Is A Constant Attendant; He Who Works Hard, Has Enough To Do With Himself Otherwise.

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

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?

A Man Who Has Schemed For Some Time Can No Longer Do Without It; All Other Ways Of Living Are To Him Dull And Insipid.

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

A Modest Man Never Talks Of Himself.

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

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.

A Man Must Have Very Eminent Qualities To Hold His Own Without Being Polite.

People Reveal Their Character Even In The Simplest Things They Do. Fools Do Not Enter A Room, Nor Leave It, Nor Sit Down, Nor Rise, Nor Are They Silent, Nor Do They Stand Up, Like People Of Sense And Understanding.

There Are Three Great Events In Our Lives: Birth, Life And Death. Of Birth We Have No Conscience; With Death, We Suffer; And, Concerning Life, We Forget To Live It.

Birth Life And Death

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.

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

It Requires More Than Mere Genius To Be An Author.

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

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.

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.]

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.

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

Sudden Love Is Latest Cured.

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.

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.

A Man Who Knows How To Make Good Bargains Or Finds His Money Increase In His Coffers, Thinks Presently That He Has A Good Deal Of Brains And Is Almost Fit To Be A Statesman.

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.

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

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

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

Born Merely For The Purpose Of Digestion.

There Are Some Men Who Turn A Deaf Ear To Reason And Good Advice, And Willfully Go Wrong For Fear Of Being Controlled.

We Never Love With All Our Heart And All Our Soul But Once, And That Is The First Time.

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.

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.

We All Covet Wealth, But Not Its Perils.

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.

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

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.

Men Fall From Great Fortune Because Of The Same Shortcomings That Led To Their Rise.

Politeness Makes One Appear Outwardly As They Should Be Within.

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

All The World Says Of A Coxcomb That He Is A Coxcomb; But No One Dares To Say So To His Face, And He Dies Without Knowing It.

Profound Ignorance Makes A Man Dogmatic. The Man Who Knows Nothing Thinks He Is Teaching Others What He Has Just Learned Himself; The Man Who Knows A Great Deal Can't Imagine That What He Is Saying Is Not Common Knowledge, And Speaks More Indifferently.

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.

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

Most Men Spend The Best Part Of Their Lives Making The Remaining Part Wretched.

It Is Better To Expose Ourselves To Ingratitude Than To Neglect Our Duty To The Distressed.

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

To Forget Someone Means To Think Of Him.

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

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

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

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

The Same Common Sense Which Makes An Author Write Good Things, Makes Him Dread They Are Not Good Enough To Deserve Reading.

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

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

We Should Like Those Whom We Love To Receive All Their Happiness, Or, If This Were Impossible, All Their Unhappiness From Our Hands.

Tyranny Has No Need Of Arts Or Sciences, For Its Policy, Which Is Very Shallow And Without Any Refinement, Only Consists In Shedding Blood.

It Is Not So Easy To Obtain A Reputation By A Perfect Work As To Enhance The Value Of An Indifferent One By A Reputation Already Acquired.

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.

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

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

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.

We Meet With Few Utterly Dull And Stupid Souls: The Sublime And Transcendent Are Still Fewer; The Generality Of Mankind Stand Between These Two Extremes: The Interval Is Filled With Multitudes Of Ordinary Geniuses, But All Very Useful, And The Ornaments And Supports Of The Commonwealth.

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

Between Good Sense And Good Taste There Lies The Difference Between A Cause And Its Effect.

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.

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.]

Logic Is The Art Of Convincing Us Some Truth.

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.

The Best Thing Next To Wit Is A Consciousness That It Is Not In Us; Without Wit, A Man Might Then Know How To Behave Himself, So As Not To Appear To Be A Fool Or A Coxcomb.

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

We Never Deceive For A Good Purpose: Knavery Adds Malice To Falsehood.

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

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.

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

There Is Nothing Which Continues Longer Than A Moderate Fortune; Nothing Of Which One Sees Sooner The End Than A Large Fortune.

A Coquette Is One That Is Never To Be Persuaded Out Of The Passion She Has To Please, Nor Out Of A Good Opinion Of Her Own Beauty: Time And Years She Regards As Things That Only Wrinkle And Decay Other Women, Forgetting That Age Is Written In The Face, And That The Same Dress Which Became Her When She Was Young Now Only Makes Her Look Older.

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!

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

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

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

The Doctors Allow One To Die, The Charlatans Kill.

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

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.]

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

I Am Not Surprised That Men Who Put Their Trust In An Atom Should Fail In Their Slightest Attempts To Plumb Truth, That With Such Limited Vision They Cannot See Beyond The Sky And The Stars To God Himself; That Since They Cannot Discern The Superiority Of What Is Spiritual Or The Dignity Of Man's Soul, They Are Even More Unaware How Hard It Is To Satisfy, How The Whole Earth Is Unworthy Of It, How Urgently It Needs A Supremely Perfect Being, Who Is God, And How Indispensable To It Is A Religion Which Will Lead It Towards God And Provide A Sure Pledge Of Him.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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