Superficial knowledge ... is hurtful to those who possess true genius; for it necessarily draws them away from their main object, wastes their industry over details and subjects foreign to their needs and natural talent, and lastly does not serve,… — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
The maxim that men are not to be praised before their death was invented by envy and too lightly adopted by philosophers. I, on the contrary, maintain that they ought to be praised in their lifetime if they merit it;… — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
Great men undertake great things because they are great; fools, because they think them easy. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
You must rouse into people's consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
Excessive distrust is not less hurtfJul than its opposite. Most men become useless to him who is unwilling to risk being deceived. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
There are those who are so scrupulously afraid of doing wrong that they seldom venture to do anything. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
We are very wrong to think that some fault or other can exclude virtue, or to consider the alliance of good and evil as… — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
Men are not to be judged by what they do not know, but by what they know, and by the manner in which they… — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
Men dissimulate their dearest, most constant, and most virtuous inclination from weakness and a fear of being condemned. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
To withdraw ourselves from the law of the strong, we have found ourselves obliged to submit to justice. Justice or might, we must choose… — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
None are more liable to mistakes than those who act only on second thoughts. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
The mind is the soul's eye, not its source of power. That lies in the heart, in other words, in the passions. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
