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
What renders us so changeable in our friendship is, that it is difficult to know the qualities of the soul, but easy to know those of the mind.
The evil that we do does not attract to us so much persecution and hatred as our good qualities.
It is oftener by the estimation of our own feelings that we exaggerate the good qualities of others than by their merit, and when we praise them we wish to attract their praise.
The sure mark of one born with noble qualities is being born without envy.
Satire is at once the most agreeable and most dangerous of mental qualities. It always pleases when it is refined, but we always fear those who use it too much; yet satire should be allowed when unmixed with spite, and when the person satirized can join in the satire.
All our qualities, whether good or bad, are unstable and ambiguous, and almost all are at the mery of chance.
There are some bad qualities which make great talents.
The surest proof of being endowed with noble qualities is to be free from envy.
We should not judge a man's merits by his great qualities, but by the use he makes of them.
In the intercourse of life, we please more by our faults than by our good qualities.
The art of putting into play mediocre qualities often begets more reputation than is achieved by true merit.
The qualities we have, make us so ridiculous as those which we affect.
It is with certain good qualities as with the senses; those who have them not can neither appreciate nor comprehend them in others.
It is not enough to have great qualities; We should also have the management of them.