All François De La Rochefoucauld Quotes
- Absence weakens mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind blows out candles and kindles fires. Absence
- In the adversity of our best friends we often find something that is not exactly displeasing Adversity
- Though men pride themselves on their great actions, often they are not the results of any great design, but of chance. Actions
- It is great cleverness to known when to conceal one's cleverness Cleverness
- The pomp of funerals has more regard to the vanity of the living than the honor of the dead Dead
- Flattery is false coin that is only current thanks to our vanity. Coin
- Grace is to the body, what good manners are to the mind Body
- Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue Homage
- There is only one kind of love, but there are one thousand imitations Ideas
- It is more shameful to mistrust one's friends than to be deceived by them Deceived
- We are always much better pleased to see those whom we have obliged, than those who have obliged us Better
- To praise princes for virtues they are lacking in is a way of insulting them with impunity Impunity
- We wish to attract praise to ourselves even as we seem to be praising others Attract
- There are two kinds of curiosity: the first drives us to seek what serves our own advantage; the other is pride in knowing what others… Advantage
- If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of others. Faults
- Silence is the safest course for any man to adopt who distrusts himself Adopt
- A man who is always satisfied with himself is seldom so with others, and others as little pleased with him Always Satisfied
- A shrewd man has to arrange his interests in order of importance and deal with them one by one; but often our greed upsets this… Anxiety
- Virtue would not go to such lengths if vanity did not keep her company Company
- If vanity does not overthrow all our virtues, at least she makes them totter All