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
Jealousy is in some measure just and reasonable, since it merely aims at keeping something that belongs to us or we think belongsto us, whereas envy is a frenzy that cannot bear anything that belongs to others.
He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks.
I always say to myself, what is the most important thing we can think about at this extraordinary moment.
We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.
A wise man thinks it more advantageous not to join the battle than to win.
It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.
Sometimes we think we dislike flattery, but it is only the way it is done that we dislike.
One thing which makes us find so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation is, that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about to say than of answering precisely what is said to him.
What makes us so bitter against people who outwit us is that they think themselves cleverer than we are.
It is as commendable to think well of oneself when alone, as it is ridiculous to speak well of oneself among others.
The sure way to be cheated is to think one's self more cunning than others.
We often bore others when we think we cannot possibly bore them.
One is never as happy or as unhappy as one thinks.
The reason we bitterly hate those who deceive us is because they think they are cleverer than we are.