When what you read elevates your mind and fills you with noble aspirations, look for no other rule by which to judge a book; it is good, and is the work of a master-hand.
Jean De La BruyereRead
There is a false modesty, which is vanity; a false glory, which is levity; a false grandeur, which is meanness; a false virtue, which is hypocrisy, and a false wisdom, which is prudery.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the insincerity present in various human behaviors and attitudes.
Jean De La Bruyere's quote explores the concept of false representations in human character and behavior. He argues that what is often perceived as modesty, glory, grandeur, virtue, or wisdom can be mere facades that hide vanity, levity, meanness, hypocrisy, and prudery. This highlights the importance of seeking authenticity in ourselves and others, as superficial qualities can lead to misunderstandings and mistrust.
Themes
ModestyVanityAuthenticityWisdomHypocrisy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about integrity, one might refer to this quote to illustrate the pitfalls of false representations.
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We seldom repent of speaking little, very often of speaking too much: a vulgar and trite maxim, which all the world knows and, but which all the world does not practice
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False greatness is unsociable and remote: conscious of its own frailty, it hides, or at least averts its face, and reveals itself only enough to create an illusion and not be recognized as the meanness that it really is. True greatness is free, kind, familiar and popular; it lets itself be touched and handled, it loses nothing by being seen at close quarters; the better one knows it, the more one admires it.
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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.
Jean De La BruyereRead
Every man is valued in this world as he shows by his conduct that he wishes to be valued.
Jean De La BruyereRead
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