Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The only good copies are those which make us see the absurdity of bad originals.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Silence is the safest course for any man to adopt who distrusts himself

— François De La Rochefoucauld

We are sometimes as different from ourselves as we are from others.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

We are never so easily deceived as when we imagine we are deceiving others.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

It is easier to understand mankind in general than any individual man.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Reconciliation with our enemies is simply a desire to better our condition, a weariness of war, or the fear of some unlucky…

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

However glorious an action in itself, it ought not to pass for great if it be not the effect of wisdom and…

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The reason why lovers are never bored together is that they are always talking of themselves.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

We acknowledge that we should not talk of our wives; but we seem not to know that we should talk still less…

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Humility is often only feigned submission which people use to render others submissive. It is a subterfuge of pride which lowers itself…

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Nature seems at each man's birth to have marked out the bounds of his virtues and vices, and to have determined how…

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

People would never fall in love if they hadn't heard love talked about.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

A fool has not stuff enough to make a good man.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Women can less easily surmount their coquetry than their passions.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

You are never so easily fooled as when trying to fool someone else.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

If vanity does not entirely overthrow the virtues, at least it makes them all totter.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability.”

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

If you cannot find peace in yourself, it is useless to look for it elsewhere.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

There are few things we should keenly desire if we really knew what we wanted.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Cunning and treachery are the offspring of incapacity.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

We only confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no big ones.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Virtues are lost in self interest as rivers are lost in the sea.”

— Francois de la Rochefoucauld

We do not wish ardently for what we desire only through reason.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Friendship is insipid to those who have experienced love.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Gratitude is a useless word. You will find it in a dictionary but not in life.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

It is as easy to unknowingly deceive yourself as it is to deceive others.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

A gentleman may love like a lunatic, but not like a beast.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The less you trust others, the less you will be deceived.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

There are people who, like new songs, are in vogue only for a time.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The qualities we have, make us so ridiculous as those which we affect.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

What often prevents our abandoning ourselves to a single vice is, our having more than one.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld