We are almost always wearied in the company of persons with whom we are not permitted to be weary.
Francois de La RochefoucauldThe most subtle of our acts is to simulate blindness for snares that we know are set for us.
Francois de La RochefoucauldHowever great the advantages given us by nature, it is not she alone, but fortune with her, which makes heroes.
Francois de La RochefoucauldSome crimes get honor and renown by being committed with more pomp, by a greater number, and in a higher degree of wickedness thanothers. Hence it is that public robberies, plunderings, and sackings have been looked upon as excellencies and noble achievements, and the seizing of whole countries, however unjustly and barbarously, is dignified with the glorious name of gaining conquests.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld