Jean de La Bruyere

Discourtesy does not spring merely from one bad quality, but from several--from foolish vanity, from ignorance of what is due to others, from indolence, from stupidity, from distraction of thought, from contempt of others, from jealousy.

The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as can help in making his fortune.

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

A pious man is one who would be an athiest if the king were.

Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present - which seldom happens to us.

- Jean de La Bruyere