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
No matter how brilliant an action, it should not be considered great unless it was the result of a great motive.
Behind many acts that are thought ridiculous there lie wise and weighty motives.
Some allow themselves to be overcome by panic, and others charge because they dare not remain at their posts. Some may be found whose courage is strengthened by small perils that prepare them to face greater dangers. Some are daring when facing swords but dread facing bullets; others dread bullets little but fear facing swords a lot.
Pity is often a reflection of our own evils in the ills of others. It is a delicate foresight of the troubles into which we may fall.
Reconciliation with our enemies is simply a desire to better our condition, a weariness of war, or the fear of some unlucky thing from occurring.
Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others.
Gratitude is a useless word. You will find it in a dictionary but not in life.
Opportunity makes us known to others, but more to ourselves.
One is never as happy or as unhappy as one thinks.
Fortune and humor govern the world.
We should gain more by letting the world see what we are than by trying to seem what we are not.
Imagination does not enable us to invent as many different contradictions as there are by nature in every heart.
Love of glory, fear of shame, greed for fortune, the desire to make life agreeable and comfortable, and the wish to depreciate others - all of these are often the causes of the bravery that is spoken so highly of by men.
Ideas often flash across our minds more complete than we could make them after much labor.