John Bruton's Quotes

Indeed, American companies make three times as much profits from their investment in one E.U. country, Ireland, than they do from all their investments in China.

Of course the EU and member states must work to ensure that people moving from one country to another understand their obligations and their rights in areas like health, road safety and further education.

Proliferation of nuclear weapons to terrorist organisations is far more dangerous than proliferation of nuclear weapons to states, even states like North Korea.

The E.U. has moved to combat global terrorism by instituting common European arrest and evidence warrants and creating a joint situation center to pool and analyze intelligence.

The E.U. is more than just a trade organization or a common market; it is a guarantee of democracy, freedom, justice, and human rights. Nations cannot stay in the E.U. if they do not respect these guarantees.

A vain man finds it wise to speak good or ill of himself; a modest man does not talk of himself.

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

Politeness makes one appear outwardly as they should be within.

Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker.

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.

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.

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

A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.

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.

It is boorish to live ungraciously: the giving is the hardest part; what does it cost to add a smile?

Love and friendship exclude each other.

One must laugh before one is happy, or one may die without ever laughing at all.

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

Two quite opposite qualities equally bias our minds - habits and novelty.

Man has but three events in his life: to be born, to live, and to die. He is not conscious of his birth, he suffers at his death and he forgets to live.

A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.

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

Children enjoy the present because they have neither a past nor a future.

Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us.

Even the best intentioned of great men need a few scoundrels around them; there are some things you cannot ask an honest ma to do.

He who tip-toes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk.

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

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.

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

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

Men blush less for their crimes than for their weaknesses and vanity.

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

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

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

Poverty may be the mother of crime, but lack of good sense is the father.

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

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

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.

There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured, such as poetry, music, painting, public speaking.

There are only three events in a man's life; birth, life, and death; he is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live.

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.

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

This great misfortune - to be incapable of solitude.

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

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear of dying without having laughed at all.

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 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.

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.

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.

When a work lifts your spirits and inspires bold and noble thoughts in you, do not look for any other standard to judge by: the work is good, the product of a master craftsman.

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

All men's misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone.

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness.

Out of difficulties grow miracles.

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

It is a sad thing when men have neither the wit to speak well nor the judgment to hold their tongues.

At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed to find themselves alone.

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

All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone.

Next to sound judgment, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things in the world.

The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth.

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

We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together.

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

A mediocre mind thinks it writes divinely; a good mind thinks it writes reasonably.

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

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.

A man can keep another's secret better than his own. A woman her own better than others.

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

A slave has but one master; an ambitious man has as many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position.

Logic is the technique by which we add conviction to truth.

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

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

We should laugh before being happy, for fear of dying without having laughed.

Everything has been said, and we are more than seven thousand years of human thought too late.