Jean de la Bruyere Quotes

Whatever does not pretend at all has style enough.

The Truth never flaunted a sign.

The mark of the man of the world is absence of pretension. He does not make a speech; he takes a low business-tone, avoids all brag, is nobody, dresses plainly, promises not at all, performs much, speaks in monosyllables, hugs his fact.

I have never been one for the over-the-top.

Minimal is the word I'd use to describe how I live and dress, and it's also how I sing. I'm not a big fan of overemoting.

Become simple and live simply, not only within yourself but also in your everyday dealings. Don’t make ripples all around you, don’t try to be interesting, keep your distance, be honest, fight the desire to be thought fascinating by the outside world.

I now require this of all pictures, that they domesticate me, not that they dazzle me. Pictures must not be too picturesque. Nothing astonishes men so much as common-sense and plain dealing. All great actions have been simple, and all great pictures are.

How majestic is naturalness. I have never met a man whom I really considered a great man who was not always natural and simple. Affectation is inevitably the mark of one not sure of himself.

A simple garb is the proper costume of the vulgar; it is cut for them, and exactly suits their measure, but it is an ornament for those who have filled up their lives with great deeds. I liken them to beauty in dishabille, but more bewitching on that account.

It's my job to try to communicate with as little showiness as possible. I was a really showy actor as a young man.

Style is the art of getting yourself out of the way, not putting yourself in it.

We should work for simple, good, undecorated things.

I don't like to make a big splash anyway.

Talent, like beauty, to be pardoned, must be obscure and unostentatious.

You don't wear all your jewellery at once. You're much more believable if you talk in your own voice.

Inside, Penlee House is without pretension. It is a space that knows its limitations and its strengths - and makes the most of them.

I like to keep things classic, not lavish or blinged out. I don't even say that word. The last thing I want to be is over the top.

A good man often appears gauche simply because he does not take advantage of the myriad mean little chances of making himself look stylish. Preferring truth to form, he is not constantly at work upon the facade of his appearance.

Genius and virtue are to be more often found clothed in gray than in peacock bright.

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.

I don't pretend to be anything but an actor and a writer.

I don't find myself interesting as a person and the details I find boring, quite frankly. You could sum it up in a few words or sentences really: came from nothing. Self-educated. Luck. Energy. Curiosity. Ambition. That's it. Nothing at all can illuminate the work as far as I can tell.

I'm not much of a show-off.

I never want to be pretentious.

There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.