Quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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The glory of great men ought to be measured by the standard of the means used to obtain it.

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Interest, which we blame for all our misdeeds, often deserves to be praised for our good deeds.

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The sign of extraordinary worth is to see that the people who envy it most are compelled to praise it.

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Flattery is a false currency to which our vanity gives exchange value.

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Jealousy is, in a certain way, just and reasonable, since it tends only to preserve a good which belongs to us, or which we think belongs to us, while envy cannot suffer the good of another...

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We are often proud of our passions, even the most guilty; but envy is a shameful passion that no one dares to confess...

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Our envy lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.

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Truth does not do as much good in the world as its appearances do.

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The dashing of all one's hopes pleases both friends and foes.

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The compassion of the powerful of this world is most often just a cunning policy, the purpose of which is to win the love of the people.

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Quarrels between people would not last so long if all the blame was on one side.

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People are rarely satisfied with those who act on their behalf during business negotiations, because intermediaries, striving to make a good name for themselves, almost always sacrifice the interests of their friends for the sake of the success of the negotiations themselves.

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People could not live in society if they did not deceive each other

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People often do good only to gain the opportunity to do evil with impunity.

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Love is one, but it has thousands of children.

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He who is too diligent in small things often becomes incapable of great things.

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The world is ruled by fate and whims.

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At each man, as at each deed, we must look at it from a certain distance. Some you can understand by looking closely at others only from a distance.

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He who knows how to hide his skill is really clever.

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We rarely fully understand what we really want.

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We cannot love a second time those whom we once really stopped loving.

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We love the act of giving more than the one we give to.

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We easily forget our mistakes when they are known only to ourselves.

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We all have enough strength to endure another's unhappiness.

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Wisdom is necessary for the soul just as health is necessary for the body.

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Kings deal with men as they do with money: they set their price as they think fit, and all must accept these men according to the value of the exchange, and not according to their true value.

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When remarkable men finally bend under the burden of long-endured troubles, they thereby show that before they were supported not so much by the force of spirit as by the force of ambition, and that heroes differ from ordinary men only by a great vanity.

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No matter how hard we cover ourselves with shame, we almost always have the opportunity to restore our good name.

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Man has more defects of character than of thought.

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To praise kings for qualities they do not possess is to insult them with impunity.

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All the virtues gather in one interest like rivers in the sea.

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Everyone complains about memory, but no one complains about reason.

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What ceases to bring success ceases to be liked.

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Even the most rational men are thoughtful only in trifles; in important matters reason usually deceives them.

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If we are to judge love by its usual manifestations, it is more like enmity than friendship.

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There are people who are destined to be stupid: they do stupid things not only by their own will, but also by the will of fate.

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The desire to inspire pity or admiration - this is what often underlies our sincerity.

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Refinement of mind is shown in the ability to flatter with elegance.

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Some people are like songs: they go out of style very quickly.

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True eloquence is the science of saying all that is necessary and no more than is necessary.

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The surest way to be deceived is to think yourself more cunning than others.

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Towards old age, the shortcomings of the mind become more and more visible, as do the shortcomings of the appearance.

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No matter how perceptive one may be, one cannot perceive the evil one is doing.

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No matter how much people boast about the importance of their achievements, the latter are often not the result of extraordinary plans, but of pure chance.

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How can we ask someone to keep our secret if we are unable to keep it ourselves?

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In society, we are often successful thanks to our flaws, not our qualities.

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It is easier for us to lead people than to prevent them from leading us.

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We would rather sacrifice our wealth than give up our opinion.

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Passions are the only orators whose arguments are always convincing.

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Fate is considered blind especially by those to whom it does not give success.

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The judgments of our enemies are, as far as we are concerned, nearer the truth than our own.

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Only great men have great vices.

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The one who is no longer loved is usually himself to blame for not noticing this in time.

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He who thinks he can do without others is sorely mistaken; but whoever thinks that others can't do without him is even more wrong.

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It's hard to define love; it can only be said that for the soul it is a thirst to dominate, for the mind it is like an inner kinship, and for the body it is a hidden and refined desire to possess, after many detours, what you love.

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For many people, the love of justice is only the fear of being exposed to injustice.

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Human qualities, like fruits, have their time.

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Alas, we are given advice, but we are not given the mind to use it.

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Awe outlines the limits of our knowledge and often shows not so much the perfection of things as the imperfection of our minds.

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Not accepting a compliment is like asking for it to be repeated.

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Man's mind and heart, like his speech, retain the imprint of the country in which he was born.

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The mind sometimes serves us to boldly commit folly.

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Philosophy triumphs over the troubles of the past and the future, the troubles of the present triumph over philosophy.

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Man is never as unhappy as he thinks he is, nor as much as he wishes.

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Fleeing in time should be attributed to the same manhood of the freeman as the fight, in other words, the freeman chooses flight with the same manhood or presence of mind with which he chooses the fight.

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The fame of great men must always be valued by the same methods by which it was obtained.

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The strong desire to appear learned prevents us from simply being so.

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One of the reasons why intelligent and pleasant interlocutors are rare lies in the habit of most people to respond not to the judgments of others, but to their own thoughts.

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You must have a high mind to know how to manifest your superiority of mind.

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Neither the sun nor death can be looked straight in the face.

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There is nothing more foolish than the desire to always be smarter than everyone else.

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There is no surer way to ignite another's passion than to keep your cool yourself.

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The truth is not so beneficent as its appearance is inauspicious.

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One who is clever in only one way cannot be liked for long.

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It is not kindness but pride that often makes us read the teachings of men who have made mistakes; we reproach them not so much to correct them as to convince ourselves of our own infallibility.

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The charm of newness in love is like the blossoming of fruit trees: it fades quickly and never returns.

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Vices are among virtues as antidotes are among cures.

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The joys and sorrows we experience do not depend on the size of events, but on our sensibility.

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It is somewhat easier to be wise about another than about yourself.

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Doing people harm is generally not as dangerous as doing them too much good.

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The contempt of the philosophers for wealth was born of an intimate desire to revenge himself on the unjust fate which would not have rewarded him as he deserved with the goods of life; this contempt, is a hidden way of escaping the indignities of wealth, and a by-road to the honor usually gained as a result of wealth.

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Betrayal most often happens not from a premeditated intention, but from a weakness of character.

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Almost all people return small favors, the vast majority are grateful for slightly larger favors, but almost no one feels gratitude for really big ones.

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Sometimes great talents crystallize from a sum of bad qualities.

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Our selfishness is of such a nature that no flatterer can surpass it.

"We lie to other people so often that we get used to it, and we start to lie to ourselves."

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It is much easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all the ones that follow.

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Friendship is not strong enough in any of us if we do not notice the alienation of our friends.

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A true friend is the greatest treasure - and of all treasures, we think least about acquiring it.

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There is only one kind of love, but there are many imitations.

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Excessive stinginess will almost always lead you astray.

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The greatest test of friendship is not to reveal our faults to our friend, but to reveal his to him.

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We fear everything like mortals, but we desire everything as if we were immortal.

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Those we love almost always have more power over us than we do.

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We always love those who stare at us, and we don't always love those we stare at.

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Sometimes we complain about our friends just to prove our indifference in advance.

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How can we want someone else to keep a secret that we couldn't keep ourselves?

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As rare as true love is, it is still not as rare as true friendship.

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It is difficult to define love: we can say that in the soul: desire for power, in the mind: sympathy, and in the body: a hidden and delicate desire to possess what we love in its mystery.

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When our heart is still troubled by the remnants of a passion, it is easier to fall into another love than when we have completely cured it.

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A person who once loved someone with great love is both happy and unhappy for the rest of his life because he has recovered from it.

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Protecting our health with an overly strict lifestyle is a boring disease.

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Happiness is not in things, but in our disposition; and we are happy because we can say what we love, not what others think is worthy of love.

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How long our passion lasts is not up to us any more than how long we will live.

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Philosophy playfully triumphs over the troubles of the past and future, but the troubles of the present playfully triumph over philosophy.

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Jealousy, if we take it that way, is a true and understandable emotion, since it wants nothing more than to preserve what is ours, or what we think is ours; envy, on the other hand, is pure rage, which cannot bear that someone else has something.

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When we promise, our hopes guide us, when it comes to delivering on our promises, then fear.

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Love, like fire, can only exist in constant motion, and when it no longer hopes, but also does not fear, it dies out at once.

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It is more convenient to be wise to others than to ourselves.

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True eloquence: saying all that needs to be said, and saying only what needs to be said.

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True courage: doing what we would do in front of others, even without witnesses.

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Few people are wise enough to value useful criticism more than venomous praise.

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If only innocence had as much protection as crime!

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Being afraid of illness is the most unpleasant illness.

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The mind cannot play the role of the heart for long.

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If we ourselves had no faults, we would not discover the faults of others with such obvious beauty.

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Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.

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If we rebuke someone because they made a mistake, it is not so much goodness as pride, and our excuses are far from guiding the other person to the right path, but rather to show off our own perfection.

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People often do good only to be able to do bad things with impunity.

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Our efforts not to love are often more painful than the bitterness of love.

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We must treat chance as we treat our health; let's be happy with it when it pleases us, be patient when it turns against us, and use serious medicine only when we absolutely can't do otherwise.

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You cannot look into the sun and death.

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There are few people who are not ashamed to have loved someone when their love has already ceased.

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If you don't trust yourself, the smartest thing to do is to stay silent.

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In life, we are more often liked by our faults than by our good qualities.

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Mistakes are almost always easier to forgive than the methods used to cover them up.

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Bodily work frees you from mental torment, and therefore the poor are happy.

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We should not be offended when others hide the truth from us, as we ourselves often hide it from ourselves.

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It is useless to be young without beauty and to be beautiful without youth.

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It is impossible to fall in love again with what you really fell out of love with.

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A characteristic of great minds is that they say a lot with few words; on the other hand, the ability of small minds is to talk a lot and say nothing.

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The heart always deceives the mind.

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The love of truth in most people is nothing more than the dread of injustice.

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Only very determined people are capable of true meekness, those who seem meek are mostly weak, and their weakness quickly turns into bitterness.

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We are better off using our minds to endure the troubles that befall us than to wonder what kind of troubles may befall us.

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Old age: a tyrant who, under the burden of the death penalty, forbids us from all the joys of youth.

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Jealousy has more vanity than love.

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Resisting our passions is a sign of weakness rather than strength.

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Hypocrisy: the tribute of sin to virtue.

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Absence diminishes a mediocre love - it increases a strong one, just as the wind extinguishes the lamp but kindles the fire.

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Every kind of human talent, like trees, has its own character and limits.

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Our trust in others mostly comes from our trust in ourselves.

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There is a beauty that is more attractive in its imperfection than in its completeness.

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Jealousy is born together with love, but it does not always go away with it.

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As a rule, we keep secrets from our friends not because we don't trust them, but rather because we don't trust ourselves.

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There are tears with which, after deceiving others, we also deceive ourselves.

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He who thinks that he can exist on his own, that he does not need anyone, is thoroughly mistaken; but the one who thinks that without him the others cannot exist is even more mistaken.

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We love someone who hates us sooner than someone who loves us more than we want.

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It is more difficult to hide true feelings than to pretend to be untrue.

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We have more strength than our will, and often we only pretend that something is impossible as an excuse.

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It is as easy to deceive ourselves without realizing it as it is to deceive others without realizing it.

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Virtues are drawn into the interest, as rivers are drawn into the sea.

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I love reading, especially books that sharpen the mind and strengthen the soul. I am especially happy when I can share this joy with another spirit-filled being; because being together you can reflect on your readings at every moment, and these moments in themselves are the most pleasant and useful conversation.

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It takes great talent to hide talent.

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Death is like the sun: we cannot face it.

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Our enemies' opinion of us is closer to the truth than our own.

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Sometimes we are less sad when someone we love cheats than when they don't.

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Every time we do something nice for someone else, we fear that we will end up with our love.

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We all try to put on the appropriate image and appearance so that others see us as who we want to appear to be, that is, it can be said that the whole world is so many masks.

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No mask can cover love where it is or pretend it is not.

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Almost everyone complains about his poor memory, but no one complains about his judgment.

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We like to see through others, but we don't like others to see through us.

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Someone who doesn't like anyone is much happier than someone who doesn't like anyone.

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There is always something unjust and self-interested in passions, which is why it is dangerous to follow them, and when they seem to make the most sense, we must be most careful of them.

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The beauty of love is that we love. The passion that burns within us makes us happier than the passion that we kindle in someone else.

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It is difficult to love those whom we do not value, but it is no less difficult to love those whom we value much more than ourselves.

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In friendship and love, what you don't know makes you happier than what you know.

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Doubting our friends is a greater shame than being disappointed in them.

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The truth does not do the world as much good as its appearance causes.

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Interest speaks many languages ​​and manifests itself in many forms, sometimes even in the form of altruism.

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It is only the privilege of great men to have great faults.

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We do not distinguish much between the various manifestations of anger, although there is easy, almost innocent anger, which feeds on the fierceness of our nature, and there is also sinful anger, which is actually the rage of pride.

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We like to guess other people's thoughts, but we don't like others to guess our thoughts.

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A renewed friendship requires more attention than one that has never been broken.

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What joy and sorrow befalls us, we never feel it in its true measure, but rather according to the measure of our own sensitivity.

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Love often turns into ambition, but there is no turning back from ambition to love.

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It's very hard to break up with each other when we don't love each other anymore.

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Most women give themselves up out of weakness rather than passion; hence it is that enterprising men prosper better than others, if not more worthy of love.

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The defects of the soul are like wounds on the body: no matter how carefully you heal them, the boil will not go away, and the wound can burst open at any moment.

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We are so used to wearing a mask in front of others that we end up wearing a mask in front of ourselves.

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Man is never as happy, but he is not as unhappy as he thinks.

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Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.

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If we do not find peace within ourselves, it is useless to look for peace elsewhere.

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The most accurate analogy for love is that of a fever, since we have no control over either of them - neither in terms of its intensity nor its duration.

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The vanity of others is intolerable to us because it offends our own.

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It is easier to fall in love when we do not love, than to get rid of our love when we love.

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It is easier to know a person in general than to know a particular person.

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We always have enough strength to endure other people's troubles.

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The hardest thing to be natural is when we want to look like it.

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True love is like ghost walking: everyone talks about it, but very few have seen it.

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Lovers, no matter how much they are together, are never bored because they are always talking about themselves.

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Imagination could never have invented so many contrary inclinations as live most naturally in the hearts of all of us.