Francois De La Rochefoucauld Quotes

Passion very often makes the wisest men fools, and very often too inspires the greatest fools with wit.

When the heart is still disturbed by the relics of a passion it is proner to take up a new one than when wholly cured.

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.

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

Our greediness so often troubles us, making us run after so many things at the same time, that while we too eagerly look after the least we miss the greatest.

Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.

Wisdom is the mind what health is to the body.

We always like those who admire us.

Humility is often a false front we employ to gain power over others.

Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.

True eloquence consists in saying all that should be said, and that only.

Jealousy is nothing more than a fear of abandonment

When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time.

As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish.

The force we use on ourselves, to prevent ourselves from loving, is often more cruel than the severest treatment at the hands of one loved.

Nothing is so contagious as example.

The intellect is always fooled by the heart.

Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.

Tricks and treachery are merely proofs of lack of skill.

There is many a virtuous woman weary of her trade.

To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.

It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.

Nature has concealed at the bottom of our minds talents and abilities of which we are not aware.

Familiarity is a suspension of almost all the laws of civility, which libertinism has introduced into society under the notion of ease.

Sobriety is love of health, or inability to eat much.

A man's worth has its season, like fruit.

We speak little if not egged on by vanity.

As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing.

Sometimes in life situations develop that only the half-crazy can get out of.

The old begin to complain of the conduct of the young when they themselves are no longer able to set a bad example.

The constancy of the wise is only the talent of concealing the agitation of their hearts.

The art of putting into play mediocre qualities often begets more reputation than is achieved by true merit.

We rarely ever perceive others as being sensible, except for those who agree with us.

The sure mark of one born with noble qualities is being born without envy.

The constancy of sages is nothing but the art of locking up their agitation in their hearts.

It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not hold, than of the office which one fills.

The sure way to be cheated is to think one's self more cunning than others.

When our hatred is violent, it sinks us even beneath those we hate.

Envy is destroyed by true friendship, as coquetry by true love.

Thinkers think and doers do. But until the thinkers do and the doers think, progress will be just another word in the already overburdened vocabulary by sense.

We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.

Gratitude is like credit; it is the backbone of our relations; frequently we pay our debts not because equity demands that we should, but to facilitate future loans.

What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.

Idleness and fear keeps us in the path of duty, but our virtue often gets the praise.

Organize one's values in the order of their worth

Sometimes, occasions occur in life which demand you to be a little foolish in order to skillfully extricate yourself.

We sometimes differ more widely from ourselves than we do from others.

Envy is more irreconcilable than hatred.

A certain harmony should be kept between actions and ideas if we want to fully develop the effects they can produce.

Cunning and treachery proceed from want of capacity.