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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.

-Jean De La Bruyere

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It Is A Sad

Jean De La Bruyere

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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.

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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!

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

What Is Certain In Death Is Somewhat Softened By What Is Uncertain; It Is An Indefiniteness In The Time, Which Holds A Certain Relation To The Infinite, And What Is Called Eternity.

A Man Must Be Completely Wanting In Intelligence If He Does Not Show It When Actuated By Love, Malice, Or Necessity.

The Opera Is Obviously The First Draft Of A Fine Spectacle; It Suggests The Idea Of One.

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

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

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.

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

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

If You Wish To Be Held In Esteem, You Must Ssociate Only With Those Who Estimable.

Men Blush Less For Their Crimes Than For Their Weaknesses And Vanity.

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.

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

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

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

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

When We Are Young We Lay Up For Old Age; When We Are Old We Save For Death.

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.

Politeness Makes One Appear Outwardly As They Should Be Within.

It Is Because Of Men That Women Dislike One Another.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Eloquence May Be Found In Conversations And In All Kinds Of Writings; It Is Rarely Found When Looked For, And Sometimes Discovered Where It Is Least Expected.

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

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

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.

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?

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

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

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

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

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

The Sublime Only Paints The True, And That Too In Noble Objects; It Paints It In All Its Phases, Its Cause And Its Effect; It Is The Most Worthy Expression Or Image Of This Truth. Ordinary Minds Cannot Find Out The Exact Expression, And Use Synonymes.

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 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

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.

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

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.

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

Intelligence Is To Genius As The Whole Is In Proportion To Its Part. [fr., Entre Esprit Et Talent Il Y A La Proportion Du Tout A Sa Partie.]

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.]

There Are Some Who Speak One Moment Before They Think

We Never Deceive People To Benefit Them, For Knavery Is A Compound Of Wickedness And Falsehood.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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 Or A Fine Hand Does In A Minute!

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

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

Eminent Station Makes Great Men More Great, And Little Ones Less.

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

Public Speaking

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

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!

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

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.

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

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.

Courtly Manners Are Contagious; They Are Caught At Versailles.

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

We All Covet Wealth, But Not Its Perils.

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.

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.

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

Anything Is A Temptation To Those Who Dread It.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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 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.

It Is Worse To Apprehend Than To Suffer.

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.

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.

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.

We Seldom Repent Talking Little, But Very Often Talking Too Much.

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

How Sweet, How Passing Sweet, Is Solitude!

A Coxcomb Is The Blockhead's Man Of Merit.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Logic Is The Art Of Making Truth Prevail.

What The People Call Eloquence Is The Facility Some Persons Have Of Speaking Alone And For A Long Time, Aided By Extravagant Gestures, A Loud Voice, And Powerful Lungs.

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

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.

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

You Think Him To Be Your Dupe; If He Feigns To Be So Who Is The Greater Dupe, He Or You?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

To Give Awkwardly Is Churlishness. The Most Difficult Part Is To Give, Then Why Not Add A Smile?

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

We Trust Our Secrets To Our Friends, But They Escape From Us In Love.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Born Merely For The Purpose Of Digestion.

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 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.]

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

The Doctors Allow One To Die, The Charlatans Kill.

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.

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.

Avoid Making Yourself The Subject Of Conversation.

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

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

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

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

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?

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

Love And Friendship Exclude Each Other.

Love And Friendship

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

This Great Misfortune, To Be Incapable Of Solitude.

The Most Important Things Must Be Said Simply, For They Are Spoiled By Bombast; Whereas Trivial Things Must Be Described Grandly, For They Are Supported Only By Aptness Of Expression, Tone And Manner.

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.

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