Francois de La Rochefoucauld quotes

“Every one speaks well of his own heart, but no one dares speak well of his own mind.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“We do not praise others, ordinarily, but in order to be praised ourselves.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“There are a great many men valued in society who have nothing to recommend them but serviceable vices. ”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“There are but very few men clever enough to know all the mischief they do. ”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“There are few virtuous women who are not bored with their trade.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“If we judge love by most of its effects, it resembles rather hatred than affection.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Fortune converts everything to the advantage of her favorites. ”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so. ”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“We easily forgive our friends those faults that do no affect us ourselves.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Love can no more continue without a constant motion than fire can; and when once you take hope and fear away, you take from it its very life and being.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“We often pardon those that annoy us, but we cannot pardon those we annoy.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“He is not to pass for a man of reason who stumbles upon reason by chance but he who knows it and can judge it and has a true taste for it.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“When our vices leave us, we like to imagine it is we who are leaving them.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“There is no better proof of a man's being truly good than his desiring to be constantly under the observation of good men.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“We are all strong enough to bear other men's misfortunes.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Men often pass from love to ambition, but they seldom come back again from ambition to love. ”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“ The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Though men are apt to flatter and exalt themselves with their great achievements, yet these are, in truth, very often owing not so much to design as chance. ”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Though nature be ever so generous, yet can she not make a hero alone. Fortune must contribute her part too; and till both concur, the work cannot be perfected.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“What makes the pain we feel from shame and jealousy so cutting is that vanity can give us no assistance in bearing them.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Our concern for the loss of our friends is not always from a sense of their worth, but rather of our own need of them and that we have lost some who had a good opinion of us.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Ridicule dishonors a man more than dishonor does.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks. ”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Our aversion to lying is commonly a secret ambition to make what we say considerable, and have every word received with a religious respect.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Heat of blood makes young people change their inclinations often, and habit makes old ones keep to theirs a great while. ”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“We come altogether fresh and raw into the several stages of life, and often find ourselves without experience, despite our years.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“The moderation of people in prosperity is the effect of a smooth and composed temper, owing to the calm of their good fortune.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld