Famous Quotes - Tags - Moralist
- A graceful bearing is to the body what good sense is to the mind. More
- A great many men’s gratitude is nothing but a secret desire to hook in more valuable kindnesses... More
- A heap of epithets is poor praise: the praise lies in the facts, and in the way of telling them. More
- A man is never as fortunate—or as unfortunate—as he imagines. More
- A man is ridiculous less through the characteristics he has than through those he affects to have. More
- A man is sometimes as different from himself as he is from others. More
- A man is sometimes better off deceived about the one he loves, than undeceived. More
- A man often thinks he rules himself, when all the while he is ruled and managed; and while his... More
- A man seldom finds people unthankful, as long as he remains in a condition of benefiting them... More
- A man’s wits are better employed in bearing up under the misfortunes that lie upon him at... More
- A man’s worth has its season, like fruit. More
- A readiness to believe ill of others, before we have duly examined it, is the effect of laziness... More
- A respectable man may love madly, but not foolishly. More
- A weak mind is the only defect out of our power to mend. More
- A wise man should order his interests, and set them all in their proper places. This order is... More
- Absence cools moderate passions, and inflames violent ones; just as the wind blows out candles,... More
- Affected simplicity is a subtle imposture. More
- All men are equally proud. The only difference is that not all take the same methods of showing it. More
- As favor and riches forsake a man, we discover in him the foolishness they concealed, and which... More
- As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a... More
- As long as we love, we can forgive. More
- As uncommon a thing as true love is, it is yet easier to find than true friendship. More
- As we grow older, we increase in folly—and in wisdom. More
- Avarice is more directly opposed to thrift than generosity is. More
- Being a blockhead is sometimes the best security against being cheated by a man of wit. More
- Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect. More
- Bravery in simple soldiers is a dangerous trade, to which they have bound themselves to get their... More
- Compassion is frequently a sense of our own misfortunes, in those of other men; it is an... More
- Complete courage and absolute cowardice are extremes that very few men fall into. The vast middle... More
- Considering how little the beginning or the ceasing to love is in our own power, it is foolish... More
- Constancy in love is a perpetual inconstancy which fixes our hearts successively to all the... More
- Constancy in love is of two sorts: One is the effect of new excellencies that are always... More
- Criticism is often not a science; it is a craft, requiring more good health than wit, more hard... More
- Criticism sometimes is really praise, and praise sometimes slander. More
- Death and the sun are two things we cannot look on with a steady eye. More
- Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves, whistle and dance the shimmy, and you’ve got an... More
- Eloquence resides as much in the tone of voice, in the eyes, and in the expression of the face,... More
- Envy is more incapable of reconciliation than hatred is. More
- Even the most disinterested love is, after all, but a kind of bargain, in which self-love always... More
- Every one complains of a poor memory, no one of a weak judgment. More
- Every one speaks well of his own heart, but no one dares speak well of his own mind. More
- Everyone complains of his memory, none of his judgment. More
- Everything has been said, and we have come too late, now that men have been living and thinking... More
- False greatness is unsociable and remote: conscious of its own frailty, it hides, or at least... More
- Fearlessness is a more than ordinary strength of mind, which raises the soul above the troubles,... More
- Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that... More
- Few people know how to be old. More
- Folly follows us all through our lives. If one man seems wiser than his neighbors, it is only... More
- Fortune converts everything to the advantage of her favorites. More
- Fortune makes our virtues and vices visible, just as light does the objects of sight. More
- Fortune mends more faults in us than ever reason would be able to do. More
- From time to time there appear on the face of the earth men of rare and consummate excellence,... More
- Funeral pomp is more for the vanity of the living than for the honor of the dead. More
- Generally speaking, we would make a good bargain by renouncing all the good that people say of... More
- Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment. More
- Gratitude among friends is like credit among tradesmen: it keeps business up, and maintains... More
- Gravity is a kind of mystical behavior in the body, invented to conceal the defects of the mind. More
- Great men’s honor ought always to be measured by the methods they made use of in attaining it. More
- Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates. More
- Grief that is dazed and speechless is out of fashion: the modern woman mourns her husband loudly... More
- Happiness does not consist in things themselves but in the relish we have of them; and a man has... More
- He is not to pass for a man of reason who stumbles upon reason by chance—but he who knows it... More
- He that fancies such a sufficiency in himself that he can live without all the world is greatly... More
- He that lives without folly is not as wise as he thinks. More
- He that would be a great man must learn to turn every accident to some advantage. More
- He who lives without folly isn’t so wise as he thinks. More
- Heat of blood makes young people change their inclinations often, and habit makes old ones keep... More
- Honest people will respect us for our merit: the public, for our luck. More
- Hope, deceitful though it be, is at least of this good use to us—that while we are traveling... More
- How is it that we remember the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not remember how... More
- However different men’s fortunes may be, there is always something or other that balances the... More
- However glorious an action in itself, it ought not to pass for great if it be not the effect of... More
- However greatly we distrust the sincerity of those we converse with, yet still we think they tell... More
- However many discoveries we may have made in the land of self-love, there remain uncharted... More
- However wicked men may be, they dare not profess themselves enemies to virtue; and when they wish... More
- Humility is often merely feigned submissiveness assumed in order to subject others, an artifice... More
- Humility is often only the putting on of a submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people... More
- Humility is the sure evidence of Christian virtues. Without it, we retain all our faults still,... More
- Hypocrisy is an homage that vice renders to virtue. More
- I speak truth, not my belly-full, but as much as I dare; and I dare the more the more I grow into... More
- Idleness and constancy fix the mind to what it finds easy and agreeable. This habit always... More
- If it were not for the company of fools, a witty man would often be greatly at a loss. More
- If one judges love according to the greatest part of the effects it produces, it would appear to... More
- If there be a love pure and free from the admixture of our other passions, it is that which lies... More
- If vanity does not quite overturn our virtues, yet at least it makes them all totter. More
- If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could never harm us. More
- If we had no faults of our own, we should not take half so much satisfaction in observing those... More
- If we judge love by most of its effects, it resembles rather hatred than affection. More
- If we resist our passions, it is more because of their weakness than because of our strength. More
- Imagination is the eye of the soul. More
- In a rich man’s house there is no place to spit but his face. More
- In friendship as well as love, ignorance very often contributes more to our happiness than... More
- In her first passions a woman loves her lover, but later she loves love itself. More
- In love deceit almost always outstrips distrust. More
- In most of mankind gratitude is merely a secret hope of further favors. More
- In the misfortunes of our best friends we always find something not altogether displeasing to us. More
- Innocence does not find near so much protection as guilt. More
- It is a great act of cleverness to be able to conceal one’s being clever. More
- It is a mighty error to suppose that none but violent and strong passions, such as love and... More
- It is almost always a fault of one who loves not to realize when he ceases to be loved. More
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