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
Our own distrust gives a fair pretence for the knavery of other people.
A man seldom finds people unthankful, as long as he remains in a condition of benefiting them further.
The applause we give those who are new to society often proceeds from a secret envying of those already established.
The greatest part of our faults are more excusable than the methods that are commonly taken to conceal them.
We frequently are troublesome to others, when we think it impossible for us ever to be so.
Envy is more incapable of reconciliation than hatred is.
That which occasions so many mistakes in the computations of men, when they expect return for favors, is that the giver's pride and the receiver's cannot agree upon the value of the kindness done.
Our repentances are generally not so much a concern and remorse for the harm we have done, as a fear of the harm we may have brought upon ourselves.
A wise man should order his interests, and set them all in their proper places. This order is often troubled by greed, which putsus upon pursuing so many things at once that, in eagerness for matters of less consideration, we grasp at trifles, and let go things of greater value.
Avarice is more directly opposed to thrift than generosity is.
Perseverance is neither praiseworthy nor blameworthy; for it seems to be only the enduring of certain inclinations and opinions which men neither give themselves nor take away from themselves.
We often in our misfortunes take that for constancy and patience which is only dejection of mind; we suffer without daring to holdup our heads, just as cowards let themselves be knocked on the head because they have not courage to strike back.
One man may be more cunning than another, but no one can be more cunning than all the world.
It is sometimes a point of as much cleverness to know to make good use of advice from others as to be able give good advice to oneself.