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.
— Jean de La Bruyère
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More quotes by Jean de La Bruyère
Wise men sometimes avoid the world, that they may not be surfeited with it.
Les Caractères (1688)
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)
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