18 h 10 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 18 h 10 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when money passes for wisdom, conversation becomes a contest, and everyone at court wears a smile?
In The Characters, Jean de La Bruyère watches people reveal themselves through talk, manners, money and rank. His short observations, maxims and portraits explore the France of Louis the Fourteenth. Meet the bore, the hypocrite, the absent-minded man and the courtier, all under a sharp, patient gaze that sees vanity without hatred.
The book brings together portraits drawn from Theophrastus and La Bruyère’s own observations. Parts such as Of Works of the Mind, Of Fortune’s Gifts and Of the Court move from writing to wealth and guarded smiles. Giton and Phédon show how money bends judgment, while talkers who demand the last word turn conversation into a display.
What you’ll discover
- People worth watching Meet boasters, flatterers and hypocrites through brief portraits that make their habits hard to miss.
- The weight of wealth Watch how riches shape respect, making the rich fool seem wiser than the poor wise man.
- Smiles that conceal Enter a court where masks earn rewards and plain speech carries a cost.
- Writing and honest sight Explore why familiar themes demand more from a writer than the promise of novelty.
- Sharpness without hatred Enjoy a patient observer whose wit exposes vanity without turning people into objects of hate.
Who will love it
This is for readers who enjoy sharp portraits of vanity, flattery, and ambition, and for anyone who likes to watch human nature in action. Lovers of French history and moral wit will find much to underline.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Tell the truth about people and expect resistance
- Merit goes unnoticed without influence and modesty
- Vanity ruins the charm it tries to create
- Love comes fast but friendship needs steady care
- The art of conversation is bringing out others
- Money changes how the world sees a person
- Town and court reward appearance over worth
- The great and their rulers owe more than they give
- People are alike under their changing fashions of mind
- Fashion and belief pass but the portraits remain
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Die „Charaktere“ von Jean de La Bruyère
by Jean de La Bruyère · 1688
Menalcas leaves home half shaved, loses his wig to a chandelier, and laughs loudest at the joke.
Challenging10–20 hours to readDeutsch
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In short
Picture a courtier who walks into a room at Versailles and shows his whole character in a minute. He bows too low to the powerful, ignores the poor, and talks loudly about nothing.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Tell the truth about people and expect resistance
La Bruyère opens his preface by saying that his subject came from the public, so he gives it back. He wants to warn without wounding. He insists that the portraits are of humanity, not of one court.
In the first chapter he claims that after seven thousand years the finest ideas about manners are already used up. He has fun with critics. Anthymus condemns a book he never opened, only because two ladies he knows did. Theocrines listens to a reading and then talks only about his own writings. Others wait to see how a book fares, then claim they approved it first.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 12 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1688
- Language
- Deutsch
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
La Bruyère, Jean de. The "Characters" of Jean de La Bruyère. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-characters-of-jean-de-la-bruyere.
La Bruyère, J. de. (2026). The "Characters" of Jean de La Bruyère. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-characters-of-jean-de-la-bruyere (Original work published 1688)
La Bruyère, Jean de. The "Characters" of Jean de La Bruyère. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-characters-of-jean-de-la-bruyere.
@book{labruyere2026characters,
author = {La Bruyère, Jean de},
title = {The "Characters" of Jean de La Bruyère},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-characters-of-jean-de-la-bruyere},
note = {First published 1688}
}
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What is The Characters by La Bruyère about?
It is a book of short observations, maxims, and portraits of manners in seventeenth-century France. Sixteen chapters cover subjects like merit, women, money, the court, fashion, and religion, always showing how vanity and self-interest shape behavior.
Who are Menalcas, Arrias, and Giton?
They are portrait figures standing for types. Menalcas is the hopelessly absent-minded man, Arrias the bluffer who claims to know everything, and Giton the loud, confident rich man set against the timid, poor Phaedo.
Are the characters real people from the court?
La Bruyère says he paints humanity in general and not one court or country. Readers in his day looked for real people behind the names, but he rejected those false applications in his preface.
The author
Jean de La Bruyère
1645–1696 · French moralist and essayist
Jean de La Bruyère was a French writer born in Paris in 1645. He worked as a tutor in the household of the Prince of Condé. His book Les Caractères first appeared in 1688. He became a member of the French Academy in 1693 and died at Versailles in 1696.
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