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
Vice stirs up war, virtue fights.
To execute great things, one should live as though one would never die.
The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success.
More are taken in by hope than by cunning.
It is easy to criticize an author, but difficult to appreciate him.
A new principle is an inexhaustible source of new views.
Our actions are neither so good nor so evil as our impulses.
Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.
If virtue were its own reward, it would no longer be a human quality, but supernatural.
Few maxims are true in every respect.
All men are born truthful and die liars.
It is in our own mind and not in exterior objects that we perceive most things; fools know scarcely anything because they are empty, and their heart is narrow; but great souls find in themselves a number of exterior things; they have no need to read or to travel or to listen or to work to discover the highest truths; they have only to delve into themselves and search, if we may say so, their own thoughts.
To possess taste, one must have some soul.
Everyone is born sincere and dies deceivers.