Francois De La Rochefoucauld Quotes
Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.
All women are flirts, but some are restrained by shyness, and others by sense.
Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.
A work can become modern only if it is first postmodern. Postmodernism thus understood is not modernism at its end but in the nascent state, and this state is constant.
When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
Nothing hinders a thing from being natural so much as the straining ourselves to make it seem so.
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.
There are no accidents so unlucky from which clever people are not able to reap some advantage, and none so lucky that the foolish are not able to turn them to their own disadvantage.
It is only persons of firmness that can have real gentleness. Those who appear gentle are, in general, only a weak character, which easily changes into asperity.
The accent of one's birthplace remains in the mind and in the heart as in one's speech.
To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.
If we are incapable of finding peace in ourselves, it is pointless to search elsewhere.
Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.
Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.
There is no better proof of a man's being truly good than his desiring to be constantly under the observation of good men.
People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.
Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them.
The strongest symptom of wisdom in man is his being sensible of his own follies.
Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others.
A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.
Old people love to give good advice; it compensates them for their inability to set a bad example.
Sometimes accidents happen in life from which we have need of a little madness to extricate ourselves successfully
Those who occupy their minds with small matters, generally become incapable of greatness.
The man who leaves a woman best pleased with herself is the one whom she will soonest wish to see.
Humility is often only feigned submission which people use to render others submissive. It is a subterfuge of pride which lowers itself in order to rise.
It is no tragedy to do ungrateful people favors, but it is unbearable to be indebted to a scoundrel.
The only thing that should surprise us is that there are still some things that can surprise us.
Whatever ignominy or disgrace we have incurred, it is almost always in our power to reestablish our reputation.
Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding.
When a man must force himself to be faithful in his love, this is hardly better than unfaithfulness.
It is sometimes necessary to play the fool to avoid being deceived by cunning men.
Too great refinement is false delicacy, and true delicacy is solid refinement.
If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could never harm us.
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.
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.
It is a common fault never to be satisfied with our fortune, nor dissatisfied with our understanding.
The moderation of people in prosperity is the effect of a smooth and composed temper, owing to the calm of their good fortune.
