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Quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld

French author & moralist (1613 - 1680)

Preserving health by too severe a rule is a worrisome malady.

Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?

Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.

To establish oneself in the world, one has to do all one can to appear established.

Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy those are who already possess it.

We should manage our fortunes as we do our health - enjoy it when good, be patient when it is bad, and never apply violent remedies except in an extreme necessity.

We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones.

It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.

We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire.

We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.

The height of cleverness is to be able to conceal it.

He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks.

A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.

When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.

If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of others.

Jealousy feeds upon suspicion, and it turns into fury or it ends as soon as we pass from suspicion to certainty.

Our repentance is not so much regret for the ill we have done as fear of the ill that may happen to us in consequence.

To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.

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

We should often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood our motives.

Few are agreeable in conversation, because each thinks more of what he intends to say than of what others are saying, and listens no more when he himself has a chance to speak.

We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.

The pleasure of love is in loving.

It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability.

The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.

Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue.

The sort of liveliness which increases with age is not far distant from madness.

There are very few women in society whose virtue outlasts their beauty.

The man whom no one pleases is much more unhappy than the man who pleases no one.

The most dangerous folly of old people who were once attractive is to forget that they are not so any longer.

However brilliant an action, it should not be esteemed great unless the result of a great motive.

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.

The passions are the only orators that always persuade.

The passions often engender their contraries.

One cannot answer for his courage when he has never been in danger.

The defects and faults in the mind are like wounds in the body. After all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind.

Many people despise wealth, but few know how to give it away.

Quarrels would not last long if the fault were only on one side.

Confidence contributes more to conversation than wit.

CP Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.