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 old begin to complain of the conduct of the young when they themselves are no longer able to set a bad example.
To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.
Chance corrects us of many faults that reason would not know how to correct.
Numberless arts appear foolish whose secret motives are most wise and weighty.
Humility is often a false front we employ to gain power over others.
Many people despise wealth, but few know how to give it away.
The strongest symptom of wisdom in man is his being sensible of his own follies.
Jealousy springs more from love of self than from love of another.
We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.
One cannot answer for his courage when he has never been in danger.
When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
Though nature be ever so generous, yet can she not make a hero alone. Fortune must contribute her part too; and till both concur, the work cannot be perfected.
It is much easier to seem fitted for posts we do not fill than for those we do.
There are very few things impossible in themselves; and we do not want means to conquer difficulties so much as application and resolution in the use of means.