111 quotes
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.
There are only two ways of getting on in the world: by one's own industry, or by the stupidity of others.
Les Caractères (1688)
No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends, as to give them no cause to miss him less.
Les Caractères (1688)
Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect.
Les Caractères (1688)
The opposite of what is noised about concerning men and things is often the truth.
As favor and riches forsake a man, we discover in him the foolishness they concealed, and which no one perceived before.
Les Caractères (1688)
Most men employ the first part of life to make the other part miserable.
We never deceive for a good purpose: knavery adds malice to falsehood.
Women run to extremes; they are either better or worse than men.
Les Caractères (1688)
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.
Les Caractères (1688)
To laugh at men of sense is the privilege of fools.
Les Caractères (1688)
I never have wit until I am below stairs.
Modesty is to merit, what shade is to figures in a picture; it gives it strength and makes it stand out.
The Characters or Manners of the Present Age (1688)
Most men make use of the first part of their life to render the last part miserable.
Les Caractères (1688)
The greatest part of mankind employ their first years to make their last miserable.
One mark of a second-rate mind is to be always telling stories.
Les Caractères (1688)
A wit would often be embarrassed without the company of fools.
The beginning and the end of love are both marked by embarrassment when the two find themselves alone.
A heap of epithets is poor praise: the praise lies in the facts, and in the way of telling them.
Les Caractères (1688)
We hope to grow old and we dread old age; that is to say, we love life and we flee from death.