Francois De La Rochefoucauld Quotes & Sayings

#1. In all aspects of life, we take on a part and an appearance to seem to be what we wish to be
and thus the world is merely composed of actors.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#2. Those who are overreached by our cunning are far from appearing to us as ridiculous as we appear to ourselves when the cunning of others has overreached us.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#3. Old fools are greater fools than young ones.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#4. We frequently are troublesome to others, when we think it impossible for us ever to be so.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#5. We often boast that we are never bored; but yet we are so conceited that we do not perceive how often we bore others.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#6. We do not wish ardently for what we desire only through reason.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#7. The passions often engender their contraries.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#8. We are never so generous as when giving advice.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#9. The truest comparison we can make of love is to liken it to a fever; we have no more power over the one than the other, either as to its violence or duration.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#10. If we had no faults, we would not derive so much pleasure from noting those of other people.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#11. As love increases, prudence diminishes.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#12. Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#13. Sobriety is concern for one's health - or limited capacity.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#14. Passion often makes fools of the wisest men and gives the silliest wisdom.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#15. The accent of one's birthplace remains in the mind and in the heart as in one's speech.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#16. A man often believes himself leader when he is led; as his mind endeavors to reach one goal, his heart insensibly drags him towards another.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#17. As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#18. When we seek reconciliation with our enemies, it is commonly out of a desire to better our own condition, a being harassed and tired out with a state of war, and a fear of some ill accident which we are willing to prevent.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#19. When we are in love we often doubt that which we most believe.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#20. The height of ability consists in a thorough knowledge of the real value of things, and of the genius of the age in which we live.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#21. Not all who discharge their debts of gratitude should flatter themselves that they are grateful.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#22. It is harder to hide the feelings we have than to feign the ones we do not have.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#23. Friendship is insipid to those who have experienced love.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#24. Perfect Valor is to do, without a witness, all that we could do before the whole world.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#25. The intention of cheating no one lays us open to being cheated ourselves.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#26. We are very far from always knowing our own wishes.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#27. Sincerity is a certain openness of heart. It is to be found in very few, and what we commonly look upon to be so is only a cunningsort of dissimulation, to insinuate ourselves into the confidence of others.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#28. We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all the motives which produced them.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#29. We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#30. He who lives without committing any folly is not so wise as he thinks.
[Fr., Qui vit sans folie n'est pas si sage qu'il croit.]

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#31. If vanity does not entirely overthrow the virtues, at least it makes them all totter.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#32. To know oneself is not necessarily to improve oneself

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#33. The world more often rewards the appearances of merit than merit itself.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#34. The confidence which we have in ourselves give birth to much of that, which we have in others.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#35. Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#36. In the presence of some people we inevitably depart From ourselves: we are inaccurate, we say things we do not feel, And talk nonsense. When we get home we are conscious that we Have made fools of ourselves. Never go near these people.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#37. Death and the sun are not to be looked at steadily.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#38. The vivacity that augments with years is not far from folly.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#39. One is never as happy or as unhappy as one thinks.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#40. Humility is often only a feigned submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people to submit to them; it is a more calculated sort of pride.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#41. We seldom praise anyone in good earnest, except such as admire us.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#42. Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#43. Absense diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and blows up the bonfire.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#44. 19. - We have all sufficient strength to support the misfortunes of others.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#45. Confidence in conversation has a greater share than wit.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#46. The extreme pleasure we take in speaking of ourselves should make us apprehensive that it gives hardly any to those who listen to us.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#47. There are good marriages, but there are no delightful ones.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#48. 433. - The most certain sign of being born with great qualities is to be born without envy. ["Nemo alienae virtuti invidet qui satis confidet suae." - Cicero In Marc Ant.]

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#49. It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#50. Absence cools moderate passions, and inflames violent ones; just as the wind blows out candles, but kindles fires.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#51. Familiarity is a suspension of almost all the laws of civility, which libertinism has introduced into society under the notion of ease.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#52. Weak people cannot be sincere.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#53. Listening well and answering well is one of the greatest perfections that can be obtained in conversation.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#54. Jealousy is not so much the love of another as the love of ourselves.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#55. Love of fame, fear of disgrace, schemes for advancement, desire to make life comfortable and pleasant, and the urge to humiliate others are often at the root of the valour men hold in such high esteem.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#56. Eloquence resides as much in the tone of voice, in the eyes, and in the expression of the face, as in the choice of words.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#57. In the misfortunes of our best friends we always find something not altogether displeasing to us.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#58. A certain harmony should be kept between actions and ideas if we want to fully develop the effects they can produce.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#59. Things often offer themselves to our mind in a more finished form in the very first thought, than we might have made them by muchart and study.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#60. The moderation of fortunate people comes from the calm which good fortune gives to their tempers.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#61. All women seem by nature to be coquettes.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#62. Heat of blood makes young people change their inclinations often, and habit makes old ones keep to theirs a great while.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#63. A lofty mind always thinks nobly, it easily creates vivid, agreeable, and natural fancies, places them in their best light, clothes them with all appropriate adornments, studies others' tastes, and clears away from its own thoughts all that is useless and disagreeable.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#64. There are people who in spite of their merit disgust us and others who please us in spite of their faults.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#65. We have not strength enough to follow our reason so far as it would carry us.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#66. Only the contemptible fear contempt.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#67. It is not expedient or wise to examine our friends too closely; few persons are raised in our esteem by a close examination.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#68. The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acpuire it.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#69. Clemency, which we make a virtue of, proceeds sometimes from vanity, sometimes from indolence, often from fear, and almost always from a mixture of all three.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#70. True friendship destroys envy, and true love destroys coquetterie.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#71. Ideas often flash across our minds more complete than we could make them after much labor.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#72. We often shed tears that deceive ourselves after deceiving others.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#73. Old people are fond of giving good advice; it consoles them for no longer being capable of setting a bad example.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#74. There is a kind of love, the excess of which forbids jealousy.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#75. What renders other people's vanity insufferable is that it wounds our own.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#76. However evil men may be they dare not be openly hostile to virtue, and so when they want to attack it they pretend to find it spurious , or impute crimes to it.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#77. It is easier to fall in love when you are out of it than to get out of it when you are in.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#78. It is harder to hide feelings we have than to feign those we lack.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#79. It is much easier to extinguish a first desire than to satisfy all of those that follow it.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#80. The duration of our passions is no more dependent on ourselves than the duration of our lives.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#81. Most women lament not the death of their lovers so much out of real affection for them, as because they would appear worthy of love.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#82. Preserving the serious health condition is usually painful.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#83. Few things are needed to make a wise man happy; nothing can make a fool content; that is why most men are miserable.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#84. Old age is a tyrant, who forbids, under pain of death, the pleasures of youth.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#85. We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#86. Weakness is the only fault that is incorrigible.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#87. Every one complains of a poor memory, no one of a weak judgment.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#88. The measure of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#89. Minds of moderate caliber ordinarily condemn everthing which is beyond their range.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#90. Penetration has an air of divination; it pleases our vanity more than any other quality of the mind.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#91. The contempt of riches in the philosophers was a concealed desire of revenging on fortune the injustice done to their merit, by despising the good she denied them.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#92. One may outwit another, but not all the others.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#93. Eloquence: saying the proper thing and stopping.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#94. What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

#95. We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the manner in which it is done.
[Fr., On croit quelquefoir hair la flatterie; maid on ne hait que a maniere de flatter.]

Francois De La Rochefoucauld