Luc de Clapiers Quotes

Prosperity makes few friends.

Hope deceives more men than cunning does.

Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.

We are very wrong to think that some fault or other can exclude virtue, or to consider the alliance of good and evil as a monstrosity or an enigma.

The fool is like those people who think themselves rich with little.

When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected.

Some of us would be greatly astonished to learn the reasons why others respect us.

It is of no use to possess a lively wit if it is not of the right proportion: the perfection of a clock is not to go fast, but to be accurate.

Great men undertake great things because they are great; fools, because they think them easy.

We often quarrel with the unfortunate to get rid of pitying them.

The conscience of the dying belies their life.

Excessive distrust is not less hurtfJul than its opposite. Most men become useless to him who is unwilling to risk being deceived.

Newton, Pascal, Bossuet, Racine, F?nelon -- that is to say, some of the most enlightened men on earth, in the most philosophical of all ages -- have been believers in Jesus Christ; and the great Cond?, when dying, repeated these noble words, "Yes, I shall see God as He is, face to face!".

One can not be just if one is not humane.

Great men, like nature, use simple language.

Nothing but courage can guide life.

Emotions have taught mankind to reason.

Give help rather than advice.

Clarity is the counterbalance of profound thoughts.

There is nothing that fear and hope does not permit men to do.

Those who fear men like laws.

To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die.

Servitude debases men to the point where they end up liking it.

Persevere in the fight, struggle on, do not let go, think magnanimously of man and life, for man is good and life is affluent and fruitful.

The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of pleasures.

Clearness marks the sincerity of philosophers.

You must rouse into people's consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character.

Those who can bear all can dare all.

The character of false wit is that of appearing to depend only upon reason.

Ignorance is not lack of intelligence, nor knowledge a proof of genius.

Men dissimulate their dearest, most constant, and most virtuous inclination from weakness and a fear of being condemned.

A new principle is an inexhaustible source of new views.

It is unjust to exact that men shall do out of deference to our advice what they have no desire to do for themselves.

You can purchase the mind of Pascal for a crown. Pleasures even cheaper are sold to those who give themselves up to them. It is only luxuries and objects of caprice that are rare and difficult to obtain; unfortunately they are the only things that touch the curiosity and taste of ordinary men.

Men are not to be judged by what they do not know, but by what they know, and by the manner in which they know it.

Neither the gifts nor the blows of fortune equal those of nature.

The falsest of all philosophies is that which, under the pretext of delivering men from the embarrassment of their passions, counsels idleness and the abandonment and neglect of themselves.

Vice stirs up war, virtue fights.

The mind is the soul's eye, not its source of power. That lies in the heart, in other words, in the passions.

As it is natural to believe many things without proof, so, despite all proof, is it natural to disbelieve others.

The counsels of the old, like the winter sun, shine, but give no heat.

Sometimes a lengthened period of prosperity melts away in a moment; just as the heat of summer flies before a day of tempest.

Reason deceives us more often than does nature.

Constancy is the chimera of love.

Lazy people are always anxious to be doing something.

It is proof of a narrow mind when things worthy of esteem are distinguished from things worthy of love. Great minds naturally love whatever is worthy of their esteem.

We are so presumptuous that we think we can separate our personal interest from that of humanity, and slander mankind without compromising ourselves.

Generosity gives assistance, rather than advice.