Jean de la Bruyere

Logic is the technique by which we add conviction to truth.

A mediocre mind thinks it writes divinely; a good mind thinks it writes reasonably.

Even the best intentioned of great men need a few scoundrels around them; there are some things you cannot ask an honest man to do.

Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect.

Liberality consists less in giving a great deal than in gifts well-timed.

As favor and riches forsake a man, we discover in him the foolishness they concealed, and which no one perceived before.

One mark of a second-rate mind is to be always telling stories.

Next to sound judgment, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things in the world.

A vain man finds it wise to speak good or ill of himself; a modest man does not talk of himself.

The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes.

A man can keep another's secret better than his own. A woman her own better than others.

Children enjoy the present because they have neither a past nor a future.

The court is like a palace of marble; it's composed of people very hard and very polished.

One seeks to make the loved one entirely happy, or, if that cannot be, entirely wretched.

We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together.

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.

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.

It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not.

A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.

Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.