No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends, as to give them no cause to miss him less. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Absence)

It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Action)

That man is good who does good to others; if he suffers on account of the good he does, he is very good; if he suffers at the hands of those to whom he has done good, then his goodness is so great that it could be enhanced only by greater sufferings; and if he should die at their hands, his virtue can go no further: it is heroic, it is perfect. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Altruism)

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. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Ambition)

A bachelor's life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Bachelor)

Grief that is dazed and speechless is out of fashion: the modern woman mourns her husband loudly and tells you the whole story of his death, which distresses her so much that she forgets not the slightest detail about it. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Bereavement)

When a book raises your spirit, and inspires you with noble and manly thoughts, seek for no other test of its excellence. It is good, and made by a good workman. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Books - Reading)

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. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Character)

The giving is the hardest part; what does it cost to add a smile? - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Charity)

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. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Conversation)

Criticism is often not a science; it is a craft, requiring more good health than wit, more hard work than talent, more habit than native genius. In the hands of a man who has read widely but lacks judgment, applied to certain subjects it can corrupt both its readers and the writer himself. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Critics and Criticism)

As favor and riches forsake a man, we discover in him the foolishness they concealed, and which no one perceived before. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Difficulties)

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. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Dogs)

From time to time there appear on the face of the earth men of rare and consummate excellence, who dazzle us by their virtue, and whose outstanding qualities shed a stupendous light. Like those extraordinary stars of whose origins we are ignorant, and of whose fate, once they have vanished, we know even less, such men have neither forebears nor descendants: they are the whole of their race. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Excellence)

There is not in the world so toilsome a trade as the pursuit of fame; life concludes before you have so much as sketched your work. - (Bruyere, Jean De La - Fame)