If it requires great tact to speak to the purpose, it requires no less to know when to be silent.
Francois de La RochefoucauldThere are two things which Man cannot look at directly without flinching: the sun and death.
Francois de La RochefoucauldModeration resembles temperance. We are not so unwilling to eat more, as afraid of doing ourselves harm by it.
Francois de La RochefoucauldWe are nearer loving those who hate us than those who love us more than we wish.
Francois de La RochefoucauldWe are not fond of praising, and never praise any one except from interested motives. Praise is a clever, concealed, and delicate flattery, which gratifies in different ways the giver and the receiver. The one takes it as a recompense of his merit, and the other bestows it to display his equity and discernment.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld