La Rochefoucauld Quotes

Friendship is only a reciprocal conciliation of interests.

Before we set our hearts too much upon anything let us examine how happy they are who already possess it.

No man deserves to be praised for his goodness unless he has the strength of character to be wicked. All other goodness is generally nothing but indolence or impotence of will.

We are never so happy nor so unhappy as we imagine.

If we have not peace within ourselves it is in vain to seek it from outward sources.

We are never so happy nor so unhappy as we suppose ourselves to be.

The head is always the dupe of the heart.

Hope deceitful as it is serves at least to lead us to the end of life along an agreeable road.

Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue.

Hypocrisy is the homage which vice renders to virtue.

Of all our faults the one that we excuse most easily is idleness.

Innocence finds not near so much protection as guilt.

In jealousy there is more self-love than love.

If I advance follow me! If I retreat kill me! If I die avenge me!

Before strongly desiring anything we should look carefully into the happiness of its present owner.

If we are to judge of love by its consequences it more nearly resembles hatred than friendship.

The reason why lovers and their mistresses never tire of being together is that they are always talking of themselves.

Though men pride themselves on their great actions often they are not the result of any great design but of chance.

It is easier to know mankind in general than man individually.

Everyone complains of his lack of memory but nobody of his want of judgement.

We have all of us sufficient fortitude to bear the misfortunes of others.

Happiness is in the taste and not in the things themselves we are happy from possessing what we like not from possessing what others like.

The virtues and the vices are all put in motion by interest.

Interest speaks all sorts of tongues and plays all sorts of parts even that of disinterestedness.

In great affairs we ought to apply ourselves less to creating chances than to profiting from those that are offered.

Before we set our hearts too much upon anything let us examine how happy they are who already possess it.

In jealousy there is more of self-love than love.

If we resist our passions it is more due to their weakness than to our strength.

When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves it is useless to seek it elsewhere.

To establish oneself in the world one has to do all one can to appear established.

It is as proper to have pride in oneself as it is ridiculous to show it to others.

A man who finds no satisfaction in himself seeks for it in vain elsewhere.

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

Affected simplicity is refined imposture.

I always say to myself what is the most important thing we can think about at this extraordinary moment.

True love is like ghosts which everybody talks about and few have seen.

When our vices leave us we flatter ourselves with the credit of having left them.

There are few chaste women who are not tired of their trade.

Our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised.

We are oftener treacherous through weakness than through calculation.

One can find women who have never had a love affair but it is rare indeed to find any who have had only one.

True eloquence consists of saying all that should be not all that could be said.

True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.

Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye.

You can find women who have never had an affair, but it is hard to find a woman who has had just one.

It is not enough to have great qualities We should also have the management of them.