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
The greatest of all gifts is the power to estimate things at their true worth
Our enemies' opinion of us comes closer to the truth than our own.
We often do shallow good in order to accomplish evil with impunity.
The measure of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.
True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one might be capable of doing before all the world.
There is such a thing as a general revolution which changes the taste of men as it changes the fortunes of the world.
We are never so happy, nor so unhappy, as we suppose ourselves to be.
For most men the love of justice is only the fear of suffering injustice.
Happiness is in the taste, and not in the things.
If we did not have pride, we would not complain of it in others.
The truest mark of being born with great qualities is to be born without envy.
If we had no faults, we would not derive so much pleasure from noting those of other people.
We would rather see those to whom we do good, than those who do good to us.
Some beautiful things are more dazzling when they are still imperfect than when they have been too perfectly crafted.