Vices are ingredients of virtues just as poisons are ingredients of remedies. Prudence mixes and tempers them and uses them effectively against… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Moderation is an ostentatious proof of our strength of character.... — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Virtue would go far if vanity did not keep it company. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
It is as common for tastes to change as it is uncommon for traits of character. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
It is often laziness and timidity that keep us within our duty while virtue gets all the credit. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The qualities we have do not make us so ridiculous as those which we affect to have. [Fr., On n'est jamais si… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
It requires greater virtues to support good fortune than bad. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
The name and pretense of virtue is as serviceable to self-interest as are real vices. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
If vanity does not overthrow all our virtues, at least she makes them totter — François De La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Some people are so extremely whiffling and inconsiderable that they are as far from any real faults as from substantial virtues. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
We do not despise all those who have vices, but we do despise those that have no virtue. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Virtues lose themselves in self-interest, as rivers in the sea. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The same strength of character which helps a man resist love, helps to make it more violent and lasting too. People of… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Fortune makes our virtues and vices visible, just as light does the objects of sight. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
There are some faults which, when well managed, make a greater figure than virtue itself. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The word virtue is as useful to self-interest as the vices. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
When we exaggerate our friends' tenderness towards us, it is often less from gratitude than from a desire to exhibit our own… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
It takes more strength of character to withstand good fortune than bad. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
If vanity does not entirely overthrow the virtues, at least it makes them all totter. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Our own distrust gives a fair pretence for the knavery of other people. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Behind many acts that are thought ridiculous there lie wise and weighty motives. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
“Passion often makes a madman of the cleverest man, and renders the greatest fools clever.” — François de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
A woman is faithful to her first lover for a long time - unless she happens to take a second. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
We are almost always wearied in the company of persons with whom we are not permitted to be weary. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
It is sometimes necessary to play the fool to avoid being deceived by cunning men. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The intention of never deceiving often exposes us to deception. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Jealousy springs more from love of self than from love of another. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
