The Shared Patio (2005)
Context: Do you have doubts about life? Are you unsure if it is really worth the trouble? Look at the sky: that is for you. Look at each person's face as you pass them on the street: those faces are for you. And the street itself, and the ground under the street, and the ball of fire underneath the ground: all these things are for you. They are as much for you as they are for other people. Remember this when you wake up in the morning and think you have nothing. Stand up and face the east. Now praise the sky and praise the light within each person under the sky. It's okay to be unsure. But praise, praise, praise.
“A heap of epithets is poor praise: the praise lies in the facts, and in the way of telling them.”
Amas d'épithètes, mauvaises louanges: ce sont les faits qui louent, et la manière de les raconter.
Aphorism 13
Les Caractères (1688), Des Ouvrages de l'Esprit
Original
Amas d'épithètes, mauvaises louanges: ce sont les faits qui louent, et la manière de les raconter.
Les Caractères (1688), Des Ouvrages de l'Esprit
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Jean de La Bruyère 65
17th-century French writer and philosopher 1645–1696Related quotes
Morning Has Broken, was widely popularized by the Cat Stevens version on Teaser and the Firecat (1971), but was actually written by Eleanor Farjeon in 1931. · A performance by Cat Stevens (1976) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5sSEkZ86ts
Misattributed
“Usually we only praise to be praised.”
On ne loue d'ordinaire que pour être loué.
Maxim 146.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)
“To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves”
Durant, Will. Commencement Speech. We Have a Right To Be Happy Today https://web.archive.org/web/20130106111821/http://www.willdurant.com/youth.htm. Webb School of Claremont, CA. 7 Jun 1958.
Context: To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves; let us be above such transparent egotism. If you can't say good and encouraging things, say nothing. Nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say.
De poetas no digo: buen siglo es éste. Muchos están en ciernes para el año que viene; pero ninguno hay tan malo como Cervantes ni tan necio que alabe a don Quijote.
Letter dated August 14, 1604; cited from Nicolás Marín (ed.) Cartas (Madrid: Clásicos Castalia, 1985) p. 68. Translation by Ilsa Barea, from Sebastià Juan Arbó Cervantes: Adventurer, Idealist, and Destiny's Fool (London: Thames and Hudson, 1955) p. 204.
“He who praises everybody praises nobody.”
Johnson's Works (1787), vol. XI, p. 216; This set included the Life of Samuel Johnson by Sir John Hawkins
“Some condemnations praise; some praise damns.”
Il y a des reproches qui louent et des louanges qui médisent.
Maxim 148.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)