Francois de La Rochefoucauld Quotes

The most violent passions sometimes leave us at rest, but vanity agitates us constantly.

We should scarcely desire things ardently if we were perfectly acquainted with what we desire.

Hope is the last thing that dies in man; and though it be exceedingly deceitful, yet it is of this good use to us, that while we are traveling through life it conducts us in an easier and more pleasant way to our journey's end.

Strength and weakness of mind are misnomers; they are really nothing but the good or bad health of our bodily organs.

Silence is the best security to the man who distrusts himself.

The intention of cheating no one lays us open to being cheated ourselves.

Fancy sets the value on the gifts of fortune.

However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.

The defects of the mind, like those of the face, grow worse with age.

In the intercourse of life, we please more by our faults than by our good qualities.

Perfect Valor is to do, without a witness, all that we could do before the whole world.

What makes lovers never tire of one another is that they talk always about themselves.

It often happens that things come into the mind in a more finished form than could have been achieved after much study.

In love the deceit generally outstrips the distrust.

The best way to rise in society is to use all possible means of persuading people that one has already risen in society.

You are never so easily fooled as when trying to fool someone else.

Love of glory, fear of shame, greed for fortune, the desire to make life agreeable and comfortable, and the wish to depreciate others - all of these are often the causes of the bravery that is spoken so highly of by men.

One may outwit another, but not all the others.

Jealousy lives upon doubts. It becomes madness or ceases entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to certainty.

Few things are needful to make the wise man happy, but nothing satisfies the fool; - and this is the reason why so many of mankind are miserable.

Self-love is more cunning than the most cunning man in the world.

There are people who would never have been in love, had they never heard love spoken of.

We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.

Only the contemptible fear contempt.

In love deceit nearly always goes further than mistrust.

Small minds are much distressed by little things. Great minds see them all but are not upset by them.

We say little, when vanity does not make us speak.

A great many men's gratitude is nothing but a secret desire to hook in more valuable kindnesses hereafter.

There is such a thing as a general revolution which changes the taste of men as it changes the fortunes of the world.

People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.

We forget our faults easily when they are known to ourselves alone.

The appearances of goodness and merit often meet with a greater reward from the world than goodness and merit themselves.

The reason that lovers never weary each other is because they are always talking about themselves.

A clever man should handle his interests so that each will fall in suitable order of their value.

As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.

How can we be answerable for what we shall want in the future, since we have no clear idea of what we want now?

Men are inconsolable concerning the treachery of their friends or the deceptions of their enemies; and yet they are often very highly satisfied to be both deceived and betrayed by their own selves.

The name and pretense of virtue is as serviceable to self-interest as are real vices.

No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does.

It is easier to deceive yourself, and to do so unperceived, than to deceive another.

As love increases, prudence diminishes.

We often boast that we are never bored; but yet we are so conceited that we do not perceive how often we bore others.

The height of ability in the least able consists in knowing how to submit to the good leadership of others.

Moderation is represented as a virtue in order to restrain the ambition of great men, and to console those of a meaner condition in their lesser merit and fortune.

We are much mistaken if we think that men are always brave from a principle of valor, or women chaste from a principle of modesty.

Some men are so full of themselves that when they fall in love, they amuse themselves rather with their own passion than with theperson they love.

Moderation resembles temperance. We are not so unwilling to eat more, as afraid of doing ourselves harm by it.

We pardon to the extent that we love.