A Quote by Jean de la Bruyere

False modesty is the refinement of vanity. It is a lie.

Jean de la Bruyere

Quote Topics

False False Modesty Lie Modesty Refinement Vanity

Quote Author

Jean de la Bruyere
French - Philosopher
1645 - 1696

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.

Jean de la Bruyere

Fidelity to conscience is inconsistent with retiring modesty. If it be so, let the modesty succumb. It can be only a false modesty which can be thus endangered.

Harriet Martineau

False modesty is the masterpiece of vanity: showing the vain man in such an illusory light that he appears in the reputation of the virtue quite opposite to the vice which constitutes his real character; it is a deceit.

Jean de la Bruyere

Too great refinement is false delicacy, and true delicacy is solid refinement.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!