We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.
Francois de La RochefoucauldOn why I don't trust democracy without extremely powerful systems of accountability and recall What seems to be generosity is often only disguised ambition - which despises small interests to gain great ones.
Francois de La RochefoucauldThere is a form of eminence which does not depend on fate; it is an air which sets us apart and seems to prtend great things; it is the value which we unconsciously attach to ourselves; it is the quality which wins us deference of others; more than birth, position, or ability, it gives us ascendance.
Francois de La RochefoucauldAll the passions are nothing else than different degrees of heat and cold of the blood.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld