“Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect.”

— Jean de La Bruyère, Les Caractères (1688), "Des jugements"

About Jean de La Bruyère

1645 – 1696

French moralist, author of "Les Caractères" (1688).

More from Jean de La Bruyère

“There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honours too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.”

— Jean de La Bruyère

“We come too late to say anything which has not been said already.”

— Jean de La Bruyère

“Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.”

— Jean de La Bruyère

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

— Epictetus

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

— Aristotle

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

— Rumi

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

— Lao Tzu

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

— Confucius

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

— Oscar Wilde

“Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect.”

About Jean de La Bruyère

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