Best François De La Rochefoucauld Quotes

Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.

When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time.

A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.

Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.

The accent of one's birthplace remains in the mind and in the heart as in one's speech.

Those who occupy their minds with small matters, generally become incapable of greatness.

Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail to succeed.

There are people who in spite of their merit disgust us, and others who please us in spite of their faults.

A person well satisfied with themselves is seldom satisfied with others, and others, rarely are with them.

In all professions each affects a look and an exterior to appear what he wishes the world to believe that he is. Thus we may say that the whole world is made up of appearances.

It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not hold, than of the office which one fills.

The shame that arises from praise which we do not deserve often makes us do things we should otherwise never have attempted.

Lovers never get tired of each other because they are forever talking about themselves.

The confidence which we have in ourselves gives birth to much of that which we have in others.

How can we accept another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves.

Honest people will respect us for our merit: the public, for our luck.

We have more ability than will power, and it is often an excuse to ourselves that we imagine that things are impossible.

One can find women who have never had one love affair, but it is rare indeed to find any who have had only one.

We are never so ridiculous by the qualities we have, as by those we affect to have.

The intellect is always fooled by the heart.

When a man finds no peace within himself, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.

The passions are the only orators which always persuade.

The height of cleverness is being able to conceal it.

Moderation is an ostentatious proof of our strength of character.

Moderation in people who are contented comes from that calm that good fortune lends to their spirit.

Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it.

Not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well.

Our desires always disappoint us; for though we meet with something that gives us satisfaction, yet it never thoroughly answers our expectation.

It is easier to know men in general, than men in particular.

Why is our memory good enough to recall to the last detail things that have happened to us, yet not good enough to recall how often we have told them to the same person.

Nothing so much prevents our being natural as the desire to seem so.

To establish yourself in the world a person must do all they can to appear already established.

If we resist our passions, it is more through their weakness than from our strength.

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

In the human heart new passions are forever being born; the overthrow of one almost always means the rise of another.

Quarrels would not last so long if the fault lay only on one side.

We credit scarcely any persons with good sense except those who are of our opinion.

We think very few people sensible, except those who are of our opinion.

We should often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood all the motives behind them.

We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.

We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.

Chance corrects us of many faults that reason would not know how to correct.

Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye

If it were not for the company of fools, a witty man would often be greatly at a loss.

It is great cleverness to know how to conceal our cleverness.

The desire to seem clever often keeps us from being so.

Our actions are like the terminations of verses, which we rhyme as we please.