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Men Quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld

157 Men quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld

All Men quotes Francois de La Rochefoucauld’s page

A man who pretends to be something he is not wears a mask to shape how others see him. Sometimes he must play the fool to avoid being tricked by clever people. He may do good only to find a chance to do harm without blame, and he often forgets those who helped him.

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Great men should not have great faults.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Most people judge men by their success or their good fortune.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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A respectable man may love madly, but not foolishly.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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A man does not please long when he has only species of wit.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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There is nothing men are so generous of as advice.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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A man cannot please long who has only one kind of wit.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Many men are contemptuous of riches; few can give them away.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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One man may be more cunning than another, but no one can be more cunning than all the world.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Passion often renders the most clever man a fool, and sometimes renders the most foolish man clever.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Most men, like plants, possess hidden qualities which chance discovers.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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All men are equally proud. The only difference is that not all take the same methods of showing it.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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It is more difficult for a man to be faithful to his mistress when he is favored than when he is ill…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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We are much mistaken if we think that men are always brave from a principle of valor, or women chaste from a…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Very few people are acquainted with death. They undergo it, commonly, not so much out of resolution as custom and insensitivity; and…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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It is from a weakness and smallness of mind that men are opinionated; and we are very loath to believe what we…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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The cunningest dissimulation is when a man pretends to be caught in the traps others set for him; and a man is…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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What we take for virtue is often but an assemblage of various ambitions and activities that chance, or our own astuteness, have…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Kings do with men as with pieces of money; they give them what value they please, and we are obliged to receive…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Few things are needful to make the wise man happy, but nothing satisfies the fool; - and this is the reason why…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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It is easier for a man to be thought fit for an employment that he has not, than for one he stands…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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The health of the soul is something we can be no more sure of than that of the body; and though a…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Humility is often only the putting on of a submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people to submit to them;…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Moderation is caused by the fear of exciting the envy and contempt which those merit who are intoxicated with their good fortune;…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Virtue is the habit of acting according to wisdom. GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ, "Felicity", Leibniz: Political Writings Virtue is harder to be got…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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A wise man should order his interests, and set them all in their proper places. This order is often troubled by greed,…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Pity is a sense of our own misfortunes in those of another man; it is a sort of foresight of the disasters…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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We label judges with having the meanest motives, and yet we desire that our reputation and fame should depend upon the judgment…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Nothing is more contagious than example, and no man does any exceeding good or exceeding ill but it spawns new deeds of…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Men have written in the most convincing manner to prove that death is no evil, and this opinion has been confirmed on…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Silence is the best security to the man who distrusts himself.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Men more easily renounce their interests than their tastes.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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It is safer to do most men harm than to do them too much good.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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A man often imagines that he acts, when he is acted upon.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Men give away nothing so liberally as their advice.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Few men know all the ill they do.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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If it were not for poetry, few men would ever fall in love.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Man only blames himself in order that he may be praised.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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More by Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Our own distrust gives a fair pretence for the knavery of other people.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Behind many acts that are thought ridiculous there lie wise and weighty motives.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Passion often makes a madman of the cleverest man, and renders the greatest fools clever.”

François de La Rochefoucauld

Perseverance is neither praiseworthy nor blameworthy; for it seems to be only the enduring of certain inclinations and opinions which men neither give themselves…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

A woman is faithful to her first lover for a long time - unless she happens to take a second.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

We are almost always wearied in the company of persons with whom we are not permitted to be weary.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The love of new acquaintance comes not so much from being weary of what we had before, or from any satisfaction there is in…

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

It is sometimes necessary to play the fool to avoid being deceived by cunning men.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The intention of never deceiving often exposes us to deception.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Jealousy springs more from love of self than from love of another.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Our distrust of another justifies his deceit.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Jealousy is always born with love, but does not die with it. In jealousy there is more of self-love than of love to another.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The greatest of all gifts is the power to estimate things at their true worth

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

We have not strength enough to follow our reason so far as it would carry us.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld