ct Jean de la Bruyère

"Duas pessoas não podem ser amigas muito tempo se não souberem perdoar os defeitos uma da outra."
"Two people cannot be friends a lot of time if they don't know how to forgive the defects one of the other."

"Não há no mundo exagero mais belo do que o da gratidão."

"Não se pode ir longe na amizade sem se dispor a perdoar as pequenas faltas um do outro."
"You cannot go far in a friendship without disposing to forgive small flaws one of the another."
"L'on ne peut aller loin dans l'amitié, si l'on n'est pas disposé à se pardonner les uns aux autres les petits défauts."

"Se ama bem uma única vez na vida: a primeira. Os amores que vêm depois são menos involuntários."

"A falsa modéstia é o último requinte da vaidade."
"False modesty is the last refinement of the vanity."
"Bescheidenheit ist die letzte Raffinesse der Eitelkeit."

"Es gibt auf der Welt nur zwei Arten vorwärtszukommen, entweder durch die eigene Tüchtigkeit oder durch die Dummheit der anderen."

"Algumas pessoas começam a falar um momento antes de pensar."
"Some people begin to speak one moment before thinking."
"Einige Leute fangen an zu sprechen einen Moment vor Denken."
"Algunas personas empiezan a hablar un momento antes de pensar."

"Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think."

"Entre o bom senso e o bom gosto está a diferença entre a causa e o efeito."

"As mulheres são dos extremos: muito melhores ou muito piores que os homens."

"Existe uma espécie de vergonha em sermos felizes à vista de certas misérias."

"Existem somente duas maneiras de subir na vida por esforço próprio ou valendo-se da ingenuidade dos outros."

"Não poderemos ir longe na amizade se não estivermos dispostos a perdoar os pequenos defeitos dos amigos."

"Não se é dono de sempre amar como não se tem sido de não amar."
"L'on n'est pas plus maître de toujours aimer qu'on ne l'a été de ne pas aimer."

"São apenas três os eventos genéricos que acontecem à humanidade: nascimento, vida e morte. As pessoas são insensíveis ao nascerem, sofrem quando morrem e negligenciam a vida."

"O avarento gasta mais no dia de sua morte do que em dez anos de vida, e seu herdeiro gasta mais em dez meses do que ele em sua vida inteira."

"O escravo tem um amo só; o ambicioso tem tantos quantos são úteis à sua fortuna."
"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."
"L'esclave n'a qu'un maître; l'ambitieux en a autant qu'il y a de gens utiles à sa fortune."

"Ter uma esposa coquete e fiel é demais para um marido: ela devia optar."

"É uma calamidade não possuir bastante espírito para falar bem, nem bastante bom senso para ficar em silêncio."

"Existem apenas três eventos na vida do homem: nascimento, vida e morte; ele não tem consciência de ter nascido, morre em aflição, e se esquece de viver."

"A liberalidade consiste menos em dar muito que dar oportunamente."

"As mulheres vão mais longe no amor que a maioria dos homens; entretanto os homens as superam na amizade."

"É mais comum um amor extremo que uma amizade perfeita."
"It is more common an extreme love than a perfect friendship."

"No oriente um homem vale por cem mulheres. Um grande coração de mulher vale por todos os homens do império."

"O amor que nasce de repente é o que demora mais para ser debelado."

"O tempo, que fortalece as amizades, enfraquece o amor."
"Le temps, qui fortifie les amitiés, affaiblit l'amour."

"O amor e a amizade excluem-se mutuamente."
"L'amour et l'amitié s'excluent l'un l'autre."

"A glória ou mérito de certos homens é escrever bem; de alguns outros é não escrever."
"The glory or merit of certain mens is to write well; of some others are not to write."

"Para o homem só há três acontecimentos: nascer, viver e morrer. Ele não se sente nascer, sofre morrendo e se esquece de viver."
"Il n'y a pour I'homme que trois événements: naître, vivre et mourir. Il ne se sent pas naître, il souffre à mourir et il oublie de vivre."

"O tédio veio ao mundo pela estrada que a preguiça construiu."

"Um rosto belo é o mais belo de todos os espetáculos."

"At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed to find themselves alone."
"Anfang und Ende einer Liebe kündigen sich dadurch an, daß man sich scheut, mit dem anderen alleine zu sein."

"La mayoría de los hombres emplean la mitad de su vida en hacer miserable la otra."

"As vezes custa muito mais eliminar um só defeito que adquirir cem virtudes."
"A veces, cuesta mucho más eliminar un sólo defecto que adquirir cien virtudes."

"É a profunda ignorância que inspira o tom dogmático."
"It is the deep ignorance that inspires the dogmatic tone."

"Crianças não têm passado, nem futuro, e coisa que nunca nos acontece, gozam o presente."
"Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present - which seldom happens to us."

"No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends, as to give them no cause to miss him less."

"It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men."

"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."

"A vida de solteiro é um bom café da manhã, um almoço frugal e um jantar miserável."
"A bachelor's life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The giving is the hardest part; what does it cost to add a smile?"

"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."

"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."

"As favor and riches forsake a man, we discover in him the foolishness they concealed, and which no one perceived before."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings."

"Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment."

"There are only two ways of getting on in the world: by one's own industry, or by the stupidity of others."

"Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates."

"Jesting is often only indigence of intellect."

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

"Todos os infortúnios dos homens se manifestam do seu ódio de estarem sós."
"All men's misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone."

"To be among people one loves, that's sufficient; to dream, to speak to them, to be silent among them, to think of indifferent things; but among them, everything is equal."

"We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together."

"One seeks to make the loved one entirely happy, or, if that cannot be, entirely wretched."

"There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid speech being pompously declaimed, or second-rate verse spoken with all a bad poet's bombast!"

"Um homem vulgar acha sábio falar bem ou mal de si próprio; um homem modesto não fala de sua própria pessoa."
"A vain man finds it wise to speak good or ill of himself; a modest man does not talk of himself."

"The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle; it suggests the idea of one."

"Everything has been said, and we have come too late, now that men have been living and thinking for seven thousand years and more."

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

"As long as men are liable to die and are desirous to live, a physician will be made fun of, but he will be well paid."

"We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ill of them while they are alive is dangerous, and when they are dead is cowardly."

"Uma profusão de epítetos é um pobre elogio: o elogio mente nos fatos e no modo de espressá-los."
"A heap of epithets is poor praise: the praise lies in the facts, and in the way of telling them." Epíteto - palavra ou expressão que se associa a um nome ou pronome para qualificá-lo.

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

"Lofty posts make great men greater still, and small men much smaller."

"Nothing more clearly shows how little God esteems his gift to men of wealth, money, position and other worldly goods, than the way he distributes these, and the sort of men who are most amply provided with them."

"Outward simplicity befits ordinary men, like a garment made to measure for them; but it serves as an adornment to those who have filled their lives with great deeds: they might be compared to some beauty carelessly dressed and thereby all the more attractive."

"One mark of a second-rate mind is to be always telling stories."

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

"The sweetest of all sounds is that of the voice of the woman we love."

"A man of the world must seem to be what he wishes to be thought."

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

"The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored."

"Crianças desfrutam o presente porque elas não têm passado nem futuro."
"Children enjoy the present because they have neither a past nor a future."

"If poverty is the mother of crime, lack of good sense is the father."

"The pleasure we feel in criticizing robs us from being moved by very beautiful things."

"If some persons died, and others did not die, death would be a terrible affliction."

"The regeneration of society is the regeneration of society by individual education."

"Liberality consists less in giving a great deal than in gifts well-timed."

"I would not like to see a person who is sober, moderate, chaste and just say that there is no God. They would speak disinterestedly at least, but such a person is not to be found."

"Uma posição de eminência faz uma grande pessoa maior e uma pessoa medíocre menor."
"A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less."

"The passion of hatred is so long lived and so obstinate a malady that the surest sign of death in a sick person is their desire for reconciliation."

"One should never risk a joke, even of the mildest and most unexceptional charters, except among people of culture and wit."

"Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property."

"The court is like a palace of marble; it's composed of people very hard and very polished."

"They that have lived a single day have lived an age."

"If our life is unhappy it is painful to bear; if it is happy it is horrible to lose, So the one is pretty equal to the other."

"There are three stages in a person's life, birth, their life and death. They are not conscious of birth submit to death and forget to live."

"Politeness makes one appear outwardly as they should be within."

"The spendthrift robs his heirs the miser robs himself."

"Mockery is often the result of a poverty of wit."

"A man can keep a secret better than his own. A woman her own better than others."

"Neste mundo calcula-se o valor das pessoas de acordo com o valor que elas trajam."
"A person's worth in this world is estimated according to the value they put on themselves."

"We are valued in this world at the rate we desire to be valued."

"Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker"

"Toda nossa infelicidade vêm de nossa inabilidade para estar só."
"All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone."

"The first day one is a guest, the second a burden, and the third a pest."

"Out of difficulties grow miracles."

"It requires more than mere genius to be an author."

"Marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank."

"Não existem mulheres feias; só existem mulheres que não sabem fazer-se belas."

"Para mandar muito tempo e absolutamente sem alguém é indispensável ter a mão leve e, nunca lhe fazer sentir, por pouco que seja, a sua dependência"

"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."

"É necessário rir antes mesmo de ser feliz, de medo de morrer sem ter sido."

"Para atingir o fim de seus propósitos, a maioria dos homens é mais capaz de um esforço extraordinário do que de uma longa permanência."

"Se ouvíssemos dizer dos orientais que bebem comumente um licor que lhes sobe à cabeça, lhes faz perder a razão e os faz vomitar. Diríamos: Que costume bárbaro!"
"Si nous entendions dire des Urientaux qu'ils boivent ordinairement d'une liqueur qui leur monte à la tête, leur fait perdre la raison et les fait vomir, nous dirions: Cela est bien barbare." Os Caracteres.

"Há apenas duas maneiras de obter sucesso neste mundo: pelas próprias habilidades ou pela incompetência alheia."

"This great misfortune - to be incapable of solitude."

"A vida humana pode ser resumida em três fatos importantes: nascer, viver e morrer. Mas o homem não se sente ao nascer, sofre ao morrer e se esquece de viver."

"Os amores morrem de tédio e o esquecimento os enterra."

"Am sichersten macht man Karriere, wenn man anderen den Eindruck vermittelt, es sei für sie von Nutzen, einem zu helfen."

"Einige Dinge sind unerträglich, wenn sie mittelmäßig sind: Poesie, Musik, Malerei und öffentliche Reden." Französischer Moralphilosoph und Schriftsteller - 1645 - 1696 -

"Se não estivermos dispostos a perdoar os pequenos defeitos uns dos outros, não chegaremos nunca a aprofundar uma amizade."

"La amistad no puede ir muy lejos cuando ni unos ni otros están dispuestos a perdonarse los pequeños defectos."

"É mais vergonhoso desconfiar dos amigos que ser enganado por eles."
"Es más vergonzoso desconfiar de los amigos que ser engañado por ellos."

"É uma enorme desgraça não ter talento para falar bem, nem a sabedoria necessária para fechar a boca."
"Es una enorme desgracia no tener talento para hablar bien, ni la sabiduría necesaria para cerrar la boca."

"Más fácil es encontrar un amor apasionado que una amistad perfecta."

"Los que emplean mal su tiempo son los primeros en quejarse de su brevedad."

"Los niños no tienen pasado ni futuro, por eso gozan del presente, cosa que rara vez nos ocurre a nosotros."

"Vouloir oublier quelqu'un, c'est y penser."

"L'on n'aime bien qu'une seule fois, c'est la première; les amours qui suivent sont moins involontaires."

"Il n'y a au monde que deux manières de s'élever, ou par sa propre industrie, ou par l'imbécillité des autres."

"Il y a dans les meilleurs conseils de quoi déplaire."

"La vie se passe tout entière à désirer..."

"La philosophie, elle nous fait vivre sans une femme ou nous fait supporter celle avec qui nous vivons."

"Le commencement et le déclin de l'amour se font sentir par l'embarras où l'on est de se trouver seuls."

"Le plus grand effort de la passion est de l'emporter sur l'intérêt."

"La gloire ou le mérite de certains hommes est de bien écrire; et de quelques autres, c'est de n'écrire point."

"L'amour qui naît subitement est le plus long à guérir."

"Ceux qui emploient mal leur temps sont les premiers à se plaindre de sa brièveté."

"Comme les hommes ne se dégoûtent point du vice, il ne faut pas aussi se lasser de leur reprocher."

"Il y a une espèce de honte d'être heureux à la vue de certaines misères."

"On ne vit point assez pour profiter de ses fautes."

"Les hommes sont cause que les femmes ne s'aiment point."

"Une femme insensible est celle qui n'a pas encore vu celui qu'elle doit aimer."

"La politesse fait paraître l'homme au dehors comme il devrait être intérieurement.

"On n'a guère vu jusqu'à présent un chef-d'oeuvre d'esprit qui soit l'ouvrage de plusieurs."

"C'est une grande misère que de n'avoir pas assez d'esprit pour bien parler, ni assez de jugement pour se taire."

"Les hommes et les femmes conviennent rarement sur le mérite d'une femme: leurs intérêts sont trop différents."

"Les mourants qui parlent de leur testament peuvent s'attendre à être écoutés comme des oracles."

"L'on ne peut aller loin dans l'amitié, si l'on n'est pas disposé à se pardonner les uns les autres les petits défauts."

"L'on veut faire tout le bonheur, ou si cela ne se peut ainsi, tout le malheur de ce qu'on aime."

"Un homme est plus fidèle au secret d'autrui qu'au sien propre; une femme, au contraire, garde mieux son secret que celui d'autrui."

"Le temps, qui fortifie les amitiés, affaiblit l'amour."

"Le trop d'attention qu'on met à observer les défauts d'autrui fait qu'on meurt sans avoir eu le temps de connaître les siens."

"La vertu a cela d'heureux qu'elle se suffit à elle-même."

"Pour gouverner quelqu'un longtemps et absolument, il faut avoir la main légère, et ne lui faire sentir que le moins qu'il se peut sa dépendance."

"Il n'y a pour l'homme que trois événements: naître, vivre et mourir. Il ne se sent pas naître, il souffre à mourir, et il oublie de vivre."

"Un beau visage est le plus beau de tous les spectacles; et l'harmonie la plus douce est le son de voix de celle que l'on aime."

Biografia

(Jean de la Bruyère) ensaísta, escritor e moralista francês. Nasceu em 16 de agosto de 1645, Paris, tipo humano Leão, signo Fogo, regência Sol. Faleceu em 10 de maio de 1696 com 50 anos e 270 dias de idade. Autor de 'Os caracteres de Teofrasto', traduzidos do grego com os caracteres e costumes do século XVII. Semelhante às fábulas de La Fontaine e as máximas de La Rochefoucauld, seu objetivo era induzir em seus leitores uma consciência moral. Suas obras retratam personagens como: o homem rico, o camponês, o hipócrita religioso, o comilão - cada um encarnando um tipo ou qualidade humana. Tais textos foram famosos ao longo do século XVII, e ele os expressou com muita inteligência e perspicácia, passando por isto a ser considerado entre os autores de clássicos da literatura.