We do not lack strength so much as the will to use it; and very often our imagining that things are impossible is nothing but an excuse of our own contriving, to reconcile ourselves to our own idleness.
Francois de La RochefoucauldSometimes accidents happen in life from which we have need of a little madness to extricate ourselves successfully
Francois de La RochefoucauldModeration is like sobriety: you would like to have some more, but are afraid of making yourself ill.
Francois de La RochefoucauldIt is a mistake to imagine, that the violent passions only, such as ambition and love, can triumph over the rest. Idleness, languid as it is, often masters them all; she influences all our designs and actions, and insensibly consumes and destroys both passions and virtues.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld