Truth is the foundation and the reason of the perfection of beauty, for of whatever stature a thing may be, it cannot be beautiful-and perfect, unless it be truly what it should be, and possess truly all that it should have.
Francois de La RochefoucauldWhat men have called friendship is only a social arrangement, a mutual adjustment of interests, an interchange of services given and received; it is, in sum, simply a business from which those involved propose to derive a steady profit for their own self-love.
Francois de La RochefoucauldWomen find it far more difficult to overcome their inclination to coquetry than to overcome their love.
Francois de La RochefoucauldNothing ought in reason to mortify our self-satisfaction more that the considering that we condemn at one time what we highly approve and commend at another.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld