It is great cleverness to known when to conceal one's cleverness
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD A good memory is one that can remember the day's blessings and forget the day's troubles
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and the one that we take the least care of all to ac...
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Quarrels would not last long if the fault were only on one side.
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We refused to assume - one of the central obligations of parenthood: to make ourselves the final aut...
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD A man who is always satisfied with himself is seldom so with others, and others as little pleased wi...
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The old begin to complain of the conduct of the young when they themselves are no longer able to set...
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Jealousy lives upon doubts. It becomes madness or ceases entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to c...
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Jealousy is nothing more than a fear of abandonment
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We get so much in the habit of wearing disguises before others that we finally appear disguised befo...
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The heart is forever making the head its fool.
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Sometimes accidents happen in life from which we have need of a little madness to extricate ourselve...
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The violence done us by others is often less painful than that which we do to ourselves
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Nature creates ability; luck provides it with opportunity.
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD All the passions make us commit faults; love makes us commit the most ridiculous ones.
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences.
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Politeness of the mind is to have delicate thoughts
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is more shameful to mistrust one's friends than to be deceived by them
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD He merits no thanks who does a kindness for his own ends
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD When love becomes labored we welcome an act of infidelity towards ourselves to free us from fidelity
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Love, like fire, cannot subsist without constant impulse; it ceases to live from the moment it cease...
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Timidity is a fault for which it is dangerous to reprove persons whom we wish to correct of it
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The only thing constant in life is change
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Why can we remember the tiniest detail that has happened to us, and not remember how many times we h...
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The more one loves the mistress, the nearer one comes to hating her
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Fights would not last, if only one side was wrong
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The pleasure of love is in loving.
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD What makes the vanity of others insupportable is that it wounds our own
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There is no praise we have not lavished upon Prudence; and yet she cannot assure to us the most trif...
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There is only one sort of love, but there are a thousand copies.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers.
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Jealousy lives upon doubts, it becomes madness or ceases entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to...
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Hope, deceitful as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route.
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Cunning and treachery are the offspring of incapacity.
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary.
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen.
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The world more often rewards the appearances of merit than merit itself.
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There are few people who are not ashamed of their love affairs when the infatuation is over.
FRANÇOIS, DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We would often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood all the motives which produ...
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Perfect valour consists in doing without witnesses that which we would be capable of doing before ...
FRANÇOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We never forgive those who make us blush.
JEAN-FRANÇOIS DE LA HARPE It is far easier to know men than to know man.
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Hope and fear are inseparable. -La Rochefoucauld.
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The wind which snuffs the candle fans the fire.
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We confess to little faults only to persuade others that we have no great ones.
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Ability wins us the esteem of the true men; luck, that of the people.
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and ye...
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not.
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The greatest miracle of love is the cure of coquetry.
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Perfect courage means doing unwitnessed what we would be capable of with the world looking on. -La ...
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already posses...
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD One forgives to the degree that one loves.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The principal point of cleverness is to know how to value things just as they deserve.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD When we are in love we often doubt that which we most believe.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Old men are fond of giving good advice to console themselves for their inability to give bad example...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD People always complain about their memories, never about their minds.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The sure way to be cheated is to think one's self more cunning than others.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We are nearer loving those who hate us than those who love us more than we wish.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We love those who admire us, but not those whom we admire.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD What makes lovers never tire of one another is that they talk always about themselves.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is with true love as it is with ghosts; everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD If we are to judge of love by its consequences, it more nearly resembles hatred than friendship.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There are few people who are not ashamed of their love affairs when the infatuation is over.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The more one loves a mistress, the more one is ready to hate her.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been t...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Being a blockhead is sometimes the best security against being cheated by a man of wit.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD If I advance, follow me! If I retreat, kill me! If I die, avenge me!
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We forget our faults easily when they are known to ourselves alone.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Only the great can afford to have great defects.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD If we had no faults of our own, we should not take so much pleasure in noticing those in others.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD All women are flirts, but some are restrained by shyness, and others by sense.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There is hardly a man clever enough to recognize the full extent of the evil he does.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We always love those who admire us; we do not always love those whom we admire.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We sometimes imagine we hate flattery, but we only hate the way we are flattered.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is more easy to be wise for others than for ourselves.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the g...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It's the height of folly to want to be the only wise one.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We are never so happy nor so unhappy as we imagine.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care to acquire.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD In the misfortunes of our best friends we always find something not altogether displeasing to us.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The common foible of women who have been handsome is to forget that they are no longer so.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Few people know how to be old.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Old age is a tyrant, who forbids, under pain of death, the pleasures of youth.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Old people love to give good advice to console themselves for no longer being able to set a bad exam...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Bodily labor alleviates the pains of the mind and from this arises the happiness of the poor.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Our actions are like the terminations of verses, which we rhyme as we please.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There is such a thing as a general revolution which changes the taste of men as it changes the fortu...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one might be capable of doing before all th...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We can never be certain of our courage until we have faced danger.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD One cannot answer for his courage when he has never been in danger.
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.
FRANçOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD In all professions each affects a look and an exterior to appear what he wishes the world to believe...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Usually we praise only to be praised.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is easier to know men in general, than men in particular.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Why is our memory good enough to recall to the last detail things that have happened to us, yet not ...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The mind is always the patsy of the heart.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD All the passions are nothing else than different degrees of heat and cold of the blood.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD In the human heart new passions are forever being born; the overthrow of one almost always means the...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD If we resist our passions, it is more through their weakness than from our strength.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The passions are the only orators which always persuade.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We think very few people sensible, except those who are of our opinion.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We credit scarcely any persons with good sense except those who are of our opinion.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we shou...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means,...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD A person well satisfied with themselves is seldom satisfied with others, and others, rarely are with...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There are people who in spite of their merit disgust us, and others who please us in spite of their ...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The intellect is always fooled by the heart.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It's easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The desire to seem clever often keeps us from being so.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is great cleverness to know how to conceal our cleverness.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The happiness or unhappiness of men depends as much on their humors as on fortune.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Fortune and humor govern the world.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We like to see others, but don't like others to see through us.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Although men flatter themselves with their great actions, they are not so often the result of a grea...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Chance corrects us of many faults that reason would not know how to correct.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD What makes us so bitter against people who outwit us is that they think themselves cleverer than we ...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Listening well and answering well is one of the greatest perfections that can be obtained in convers...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Nothing so much prevents our being natural as the desire to seem so.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD To establish yourself in the world a person must do all they can to appear already established.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The reason why so few people are agreeable in conversation is that each is thinking more about what ...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We seldom find any person of good sense, except those who share our opinions.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We may give advice, but not the sense to use it.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Men give away nothing so liberally as their advice.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The one thing people are the most liberal with, is their advice.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as wind extinguishes candles and fans a...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The height of ability consists in a thorough knowledge of the real value of things, and of the geniu...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Some beautiful things are more impressive when left imperfect than when too highly finished.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Quarrels would not last so long if the fault lay only on one side.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Few persons have sufficient wisdom to prefer censure, which is useful, to praise which deceives them...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There are crimes which become innocent and even glorious through their splendor, number and excess.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD True eloquence consists in saying all that should be said, and that only.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is only persons of firmness that can have real gentleness. Those who appear gentle are, in genera...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD One can find women who have never had one love affair, but it is rare indeed to find any who have ha...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD To safeguard one's health at the cost of too strict a diet is a tiresome illness indeed.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We never desire strongly, what we desire rationally.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There are ways which lead to everything, and if we have sufficient will we should always have suffic...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The sure way to be cheated is to think one's self more cunning than others.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The virtues and vices are all put in motion by interest.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The fame of great men ought to be judged always by the means they used to acquire it.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is for want of application, rather than of means that people fail,
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Our desires always disappoint us; for though we meet with something that gives us satisfaction, yet ...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There are heroes in evil as well as in good.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is a wearisome disease to preserve health by too strict a regimen.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD When our hatred is violent, it sinks us even beneath those we hate.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not hold, than of the office which one fills.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD To achieve greatness one should live as if they will never die.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Humility is often a false front we employ to gain power over others.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The height of cleverness is being able to conceal it.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Hope and fear are inseparable.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Hope is the last thing that dies in man; and though it be exceedingly deceitful, yet it is of this g...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We only confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no big ones.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Nothing is so contagious as an example. We never do great good or evil without bringing about more o...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There is hardly a man clever enough to recognize the full extent of the evil he does.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We often do good in order that we may do evil with impunity.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Jealousy is bred in doubts. When those doubts change into certainties, then the passion either cease...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD The sure mark of one born with noble qualities is being born without envy.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD It is not enough to succeed, others must fail.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Envy is more irreconcilable than hatred.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD In jealousy there is more of self-love than love.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Live on doubts; it becomes madness or stops entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to certainty.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Jealously is always born with love but it does not die with it.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Jealousy contains more of self-love than of love.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Our enemies come nearer the truth in the opinions they form of us than we do in our opinion of ourse...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Our enemies approach nearer to truth in their judgments of us than we do ourselves.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We would rather speak badly of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD We seldom find people ungrateful so long as it is thought we can serve them.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Too great a hurry to discharge an obligation is a kind of ingratitude.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD In most of mankind gratitude is merely a secret hope for greater favours.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD There are few good women who do not tire of their role.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who h...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already posses...
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD