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François de La Rochefoucauld
Find the best quotes, maxims and aphorisms of François de La Rochefoucauld
Biography : French moralist, author of maxims and memoirs.
Born: 1613 - Died: 1680
Period:
17th century
Place of birth: France
France
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François de La Rochefoucauld - Quotes



Though nature be ever so generous, yet can she not make a hero alone. Fortune must contribute her part too and till both concur, the work cannot be perfected.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





What makes the pain we feel from shame and jealousy so cutting is that vanity can give us no assistance in bearing them.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





We may sooner be brought to love them that hate us, than them that love us more than we would have them do.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





We have no patience with other people's vanity because it is offensive to our own.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





We may seem great in an employment below our worth, but we very often look little in one that is too big for us.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





Being a blockhead is sometimes the best security against being cheated by a man of wit.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





It is from a weakness and smallness of mind that men are opinionated and we are very loath to believe what we are not able to comprehend.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
François de La Rochefoucauld / 





Men often pass from love to ambition, but they seldom come back again from ambition to love.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





There is a kind of elevation which does not depend on fortune it is a certain air which distinguishes us, and seems to destine us for great things it is a price which we imperceptibly set upon ourselves.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





We all have enough strength to endure the misfortunes of others.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





However glorious an action in itself, it ought not to pass for great if it be not the effect of wisdom and intention.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





Only the contemptible fear contempt.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





The defects of the mind, like those of the face, grow worse with age.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





In the misfortunes of our best friends we always find something not altogether displeasing to us.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





It is easier to know men in general, than men in particular.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





Old men are fond of giving good advice to console themselves for their inability to give bad examples.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





Our aversion to lying is commonly a secret ambition to make what we say considerable, and have every word received with a religious respect.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





Nothing is so contagious as example and we never do any great good or evil which does not produce its like.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





It is not enough to have great qualities We should also have the management of them.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.
François de La Rochefoucauld /





One is never fortunate or as unfortunate as one imagines.
François de La Rochefoucauld /






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