He blushed to see other Frenchmen overcome with joy whenever they met a compatriot abroad. The would fall on each other, cluster in a raucous group, and pass whole evenings complaining about the barbarity of the locals. These were the few who actually noticed that locals did things differently. Others managed to travel so ‘covered and wrapped in a taciturn and incommunicative prudence, defending themselves from the contagion of an unknown atmosphere’ that they noticed nothing at all. . Sarah Bakewell
About This Quote

The author of the quote, Jean de La Bruyère, was commenting on the French military. He claims that they would blush at the sight of their fellow countrymen who traveled to foreign lands and embraced each other in a group. Instead of embracing their own countrymen, they were wrapped up in themselves and unwilling to embrace others.

Source: How To Live: A Life Of Montaigne In One Question And Twenty Attempts At An Answer

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