Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillacla ʁɔʃfuˈko]; 15 September 1613 – 17 March 1680) was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs. It is said that his world-view was clear-eyed and urbane, and that he neither condemned human conduct nor sentimentally celebrated it. Born in Paris on the Rue des Petits Champs, at a time when the royal court was vacillating between aiding the nobility and threatening it, he was considered an exemplar of the accomplished 17th-century...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth15 September 1613
CountryFrance
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.
How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves?
We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.
It's the height of folly to want to be the only wise one.
No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does.
We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
Politeness is a desire to be treated politely, and to be esteemed polite oneself.
Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy they are, who already possess it.
One kind of flirtation is to boast we never flirt.
People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.
Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.
Silence is the safest course for any man to adopt who distrust himself.
The most subtle of our acts is to simulate blindness for snares that we know are set for us.
We always get bored with those whom we bore.