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
What is called liberality is often merely the vanity of giving.
There are few good women who do not tire of their role.
What makes lovers never tire of one another is that they talk always about themselves.
Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers.
What makes vanity so insufferable to us, is that it hurts our own.
The only good imitations are those that poke fun at bad originals.
One can no more look steadily at death than at the sun.
Organize one's values in the order of their worth
It requires greater virtues to support good fortune than bad.
The art of putting into play mediocre qualities often begets more reputation than is achieved by true merit.
Minds of moderate caliber ordinarily condemn everthing which is beyond their range.
A true friend is the most precious of all possessions and the one we take the least thought about acquiring.
We rarely ever perceive others as being sensible, except for those who agree with us.
The intention of cheating no one lays us open to being cheated ourselves.