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
The greatest evil that fortune can bring to men is to endow them with feeble resources and yet to make them ambitious.
Sometimes a lengthened period of prosperity melts away in a moment; just as the heat of summer flies before a day of tempest.
Persevere in the fight, struggle on, do not let go, think magnanimously of man and life, for man is good and life is affluent and fruitful.
The counsels of old age give light without heat, like the sun in winter.
No one is more liable to make mistakes than the man who acts only on reflection.
Those who can bear all can dare all.
Lazy people always intend to start doing something.
He who knows how to suffer everything can dare everything.
One promises much, to avoid giving little.
Generosity gives assistance, rather than advice.
Give help rather than advice.
Man never rises to great truths without enthusiasm.
The counsels of the old, like the winter sun, shine, but give no heat.
Habit is everything, even in love.