Self-love increases or diminishes for us the good qualities of our friends, in proportion to the satisfaction we feel with them; and… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
There is a form of eminence which does not depend on fate; it is an air which sets us apart and seems… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
One of the greatest and also the commonest of faults is for men to believe that, because they never hear their shortcomings… — 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
We should not judge a man's merits by his great qualities, but by the use he makes of them. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The desire which urges us to deserve praise strengthens our good qualities, and praise given to wit, valour, and beauty, tends to… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Most men, like plants, possess hidden qualities which chance discovers. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
All our qualities, whether good or bad, are unstable and ambiguous, and almost all are at the mery of chance. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
It is oftener by the estimation of our own feelings that we exaggerate the good qualities of others than by their merit,… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The thing that makes our friendships so short and changeable is that the qualities and dispositions of the soul are very hard… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Constancy in love is a perpetual inconstancy which fixes our hearts successively to all the qualities of the person loved--sometimes admiring one… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The surest proof of being endowed with noble qualities is to be free from envy. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Our good qualities expose us more to hatred and persecution than all the ill we do. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The art of putting into play mediocre qualities often begets more reputation than is achieved by true merit. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
What renders us so changeable in our friendship is, that it is difficult to know the qualities of the soul, but easy… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The qualities we have, make us so ridiculous as those which we affect. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Penetration has an air of divination; it pleases our vanity more than any other quality of the mind. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Satire is at once the most agreeable and most dangerous of mental qualities. It always pleases when it is refined, but we… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
Some good qualities are like the senses: Those who are entirely deprived of them can have no notion of them. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The truest mark of being born with great qualities is to be born without envy. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
The evil that we do does not attract to us so much persecution and hatred as our good qualities. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
In the intercourse of life, we please more by our faults than by our good qualities. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
There are some bad qualities which make great talents. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld Copy Share Image
It is with certain good qualities as with the senses; those who have them not can neither appreciate nor comprehend them in… — 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
