Luc de Clapiers
Luc de Clapiers
Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargueswas a minor French writer, a moralist. He died at age 31, in broken health, having published the year prior—anonymously—a collection of essays and aphorisms with the encouragement of Voltaire, his friend. He first received public notice under his own name in 1797, and from 1857 on, his aphorisms became popular. In the history of French literature, his significance lies chiefly in his friendship with Voltaire...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth6 August 1715
CountryFrance
Men are not to be judged by what they do not know, but by what they know, and by the manner in which they know it.
The fool is like those people who think themselves rich with little.
Men dissimulate their dearest, most constant, and most virtuous inclination from weakness and a fear of being condemned.
Great men in teaching weak men to reflect have set them on the road to error.
Jealousy is the paralysis of love.
Men sometimes feel injured by praise because it assigns a limit to their merit; few people are modest enough not to take offense that one appreciates them.
To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die.
It is a great sign of mediocrity to praise always moderately.
Hope deceives more men than cunning does.
Magnanimity will not consider the prudence of its motives.
We are dismayed when we find that even disaster cannot cure us of our faults.
All erroneous ideas would perish of their own accord if given clear expression.
We are almost always guilty of the hate we encounter.
In a way, the main fault of all books is that they are too long.