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 mark of extraordinary merit is to see those most envious of it constrained to praise.
Nature makes merit, and fortune puts it to work.
Magnanimity is sufficiently defined by its name, nevertheless one can say it is the good sense of pride, the most noble way of receiving praise.
In infants, levity is a prettiness; in men a shameful defect; but in old age, a monstrous folly.
As love increases, prudence diminishes.
Interest blinds some people, and enlightens others.
The intellect of the generality of women serves more to fortify their folly than their reason.
We have more indolence in the mind than in the body.
Indolence, languid as it is, often masters both passions and virtues.
Philosophy easily triumphs over past and future ills; but present ills triumph over philosophy.
Hatred is stronger than friendship.
Gravity is a mysterious carriage of the body invented to cover the defects of the mind.
Almost everyone takes pleasure in repaying trifling obligations, very many feel gratitude for those that are moderate; but there is scarcely anyone who is not ungrateful for those that are weighty.
Female gossips are generally actuated by active ignorance.