Background Image

...

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.

-Jean De La Bruyere

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

It Takes Talent To

Jean De La Bruyere

...

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.

Views: 16

Topic

More From Jean De La Bruyere

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

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.

To How Many Girls Has A Great Beauty Been Of No Other Use But To Make Them Expect A Large Fortune!

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.

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

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 Are Dead We Are Praised By Those Who Survive Us, Though We Frequently Have No Other Merit Than That Of Being No Longer Alive.

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.

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.]

Out Of Difficulties Grow Miracles.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Sudden Love Is Latest Cured.

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

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.

It Is Worse To Apprehend Than To Suffer.

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

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.

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?

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.

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!

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.

All Men's Misfortunes Spring From Their Hatred Of Being Alone.

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.

Rarely Do They Appear Great Before Their Valets. [fr., Rarement Ils Sont Grands Vis-a-vis De Leur Valets-de-chambre.]

Born Merely For The Purpose Of Digestion.

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

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.]

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Lofty Birth Or A Large Fortune Portend Merit, And Cause It To Be The Sooner Noticed.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Avoid Making Yourself The Subject Of Conversation.

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.

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

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.

A Fool Is One Whom Simpletons Believe To Be A Man On Merit. [fr., Un Fat Celui Que Les Sots Croient Un Homme De Merite.]

The Doctors Allow One To Die, The Charlatans Kill.

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

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

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

A Good Saying Often Runs The Risk Of Being Thrown Away When Quoted As The Speaker's Own. [fr., C'est Souvent Hasarder Un Bon Mot Et Vouloir Le Perdre Que De Le Donner Pour Sien.]

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.]

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

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.

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.

Women Are Extreme; They Are Better Than Men, Or Worse.

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

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.

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.

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

Those Who Make The Worst Use Of Their Time Are The First To Complain Of Its Shortness.

Life Is Too Short

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.

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

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.

Rarely Do They Appear Great Before Their Valets.

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

A Modest Man Never Talks Of Himself.

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

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

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

We Must Strive To Make Ourselves Really Worthy Of Some Employment. We Need Pay No Attention To Anything Else; The Rest Is The Business Of Others.

Jesting Is Often Only Indigence Of Intellect.

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.

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.

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

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.

It Is Because Of Men That Women Dislike One Another.

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.

We Perceive When Love Begins And When It Declines By Our Embarrassment When Alone Together.

Sad Valentines Day

The Finest Pleasure Is Kindness To Others.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Caprice In Women Often Infringes Upon The Rules Of Decency.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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 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.

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!

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.]

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.]

We All Covet Wealth, But Not Its Perils.

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.

No Man Is So Perfect, So Necessary To His Friends As To Give Them No Cause To Miss Him Less.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Public Speaking

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.

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.

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.

The Most Exquisite Pleasure Is Giving Pleasure To Others.

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

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.

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

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

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

False Modesty Is The Masterpiece Of Vanity: Showing The Vain Man In Such An Illusory Light That He Appears In The Reputation Of The Virtue Quite Opposite To The Vice Which Constitutes His Real Character; It Is A Deceit.

It Is Virtue Which Should Determine Us In The Choice Of Our Friends, Without Inquiring Into Their Good Or Evil Fortune.

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 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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Courtly Manners Are Contagious; They Are Caught At Versailles.

It Requires More Than Mere Genius To Be An Author.

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

The Finest And Most Beautiful Ideas On Morals And Manners Have Been Swept Away Before Our Times, And Nothing Is Left For Us But To Glean After The Ancients And The Ablest Amongst The Moderns.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Extremes Are Vicious, And Proceed From Men; Compensation Is Just, And Proceeds From God.

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.

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

Love Receives Its Death-wound From Aversion, And Forgetfulness Buries It.

Logic Is The Art Of Making Truth Prevail.

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.

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.]

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

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

Trending Author

Walter Kaufmann

Category