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
Were we faultless, we would not derive such satisfaction from remarking the faults of others.
Death, like the sun, cannot be looked at steadily.
Innocence is lucky if it finds the same protection as guilt
Most people judge men by their success or their good fortune.
It is a common fault never to be satisfied with our fortune, nor dissatisfied with our understanding.
Nature has concealed at the bottom of our minds talents and abilities of which we are not aware.
Our desires always disappoint us; for though we meet with something that gives us satisfaction, yet it never thoroughly answers our expectation. [However disappointment can always be removed if we remember it could have turned out worse.]
No accidents are so unlucky [bad] but that the wise may draw some advantage [good] from them...
There are some good marriages, but practically no delightful ones.
There are no circumstances, however unfortunate, that clever people do not extract some advantage from.
How deceitful hope may be, yet she carries us on pleasantly to the end of life.
We give advice, we do not inspire conduct.
The hunger for applause is the source for all conscious literature and heroism
Politeness of the mind is to have delicate thoughts