Quotes By Francois De La Rochefoucauld

There is a kind of elevation which does not depend on fortune; it is a certain air which distinguishes us, and seems to destine us for great things; it is a price which we imperceptibly set upon ourselves.

The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.

Hope, deceiving as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route.

If there be a love pure and free from the admixture of our other passions, it is that which lies hidden in the bottom of our heart, and which we know not ourselves.

Moderation is the feebleness and sloth of the soul, whereas ambition is the warmth and activity of it.

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

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.

The reason why so few people are agreeable in conversation is that each is thinking more about what he intends to say than others are saying.

Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.

It is not enough to have great qualities; We should also have the management of them.

A man's worth has its season, like fruit.

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

It is not in the power of even the most crafty dissimulation to conceal love long, where it really is, nor to counterfeit it long where it is not.

As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing.

We are easily comforted for the misfortunes of our friends, when those misfortunes give us an occasion of expressing our affection and solicitude.

Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye.

If we resist our passions, it is more due to their weakness than our strength.

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?

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

In love we often doubt what we most believe.

Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs.

Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted.

Old people love to give good advice; it compensates them for their inability to set a bad example.

Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended.

Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with.

Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences.

We are very far from always knowing our own wishes.

Never give anyone the advice to buy or sell shares, because the most benevolent price of advice can turn out badly.

Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.

No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so.