Nature seems at each man's birth to have marked out the bounds of his virtues and vices, and to have determined how good or how wicked that man shall be capable of being.
Francois de La RochefoucauldWe should wish for few things with eagerness, if we perfectly knew the nature of that which was the object of our desire.
Francois de La RochefoucauldWhat 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 RochefoucauldAbsence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld