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
It is a sad thing when men have neither enough intelligence to speak well nor enough sense to hold their tongues; this is the root of all impertinence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of knowing when to speak and when to remain silent, highlighting a lack of wisdom in communication.
Jean De La Bruyere's quote reflects on the relationship between intelligence and the ability to communicate effectively. It suggests that those who lack the intelligence to express themselves thoughtfully and the sense to remain silent can create social impertinence and misunderstandings. This highlights the importance of wisdom in our interactions, where knowing when to speak is as crucial as knowing what to say.
Themes
CommunicationWisdomSilenceIntelligenceImpertinence
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about effective communication skills in a workshop.
More from Jean De La Bruyere
All quotes βWe perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together.
Jean De La BruyereRead
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
Jean De La BruyereRead
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.
Jean De La BruyereRead
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
Similar quotes
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way.
Margaret J. WheatleyRead
Bush has not read enough books to have a developed moral sense. The fewer books you read, the easier it is to become fundamental. In some ways my antiwar stand here is also a stand on anti-literacy. Someone should get G.W. into a reading program, get him to join a book club. Have him read Hamlet, King Lear.
Sherman AlexieRead
Perhaps when the light of heaven shows us clearly the pitfalls and dangers of the earth road that led to the heavenly city, our sweetest songs of gratitude will be not for the troubles we have conquered, but for those we have escaped.
Amelia BarrRead
If you can get really good at destroying your own wrong ideas, that is a great gift.
Charlie MungerRead
Your brain is always eavesdropping on your thoughts. As it listens, it leans. If you teach it about limitation, your brain will become limited...Teach your brain to be unlimited.
Deepak ChopraRead
We are often better served by connecting ideas than we are by protecting them.
Steven JohnsonRead