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Wise men sometimes avoid the world, that they may not be surfeited with it.

— Jean de La Bruyère Les Caractères (1688)

Le sage quelquefois évite le monde, de peur d’être ennuyé.

Original text (French)

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More quotes by Jean de La Bruyère

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune, and favor cannot satisfy him.

Les Caractères (1688)

An intelligent man neither allows himself to be controlled nor attempts to control others; he wishes reason alone to rule, and that always.

Les Caractères (1688)

Time, which strengthens friendship, weakens love.

Les Caractères (1688)

There is, however, nothing wanting to the idleness of a philosopher but a better name, and that meditation, conversation, and reading should be called “work.”

Les Caractères (1688)

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all.

Les Caractères (1688)

All Jean de La Bruyère quotes →

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Jean de La Bruyère (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.