De La Rochefoucauld Quotes & Sayings

To safeguard one's health at the cost of too strict a diet is a tiresome illness, indeed. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The heart is forever making the head its fool. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Those who have the most cunning affect all their lives to condemn cunning; that they may make use of it on some great occasion, and to some great end. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

In love deceit almost always outstrips distrust. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We acknowledge that we should not talk of our wives; but we seem not to know that we should talk still less of ourselves. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

As long as we love, we can forgive. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

No one thinks fortune so blind as those she has been least kind to. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

To know oneself is not necessarily to improve oneself — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It is harder to hide the feelings we have than to feign the ones we do not have. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Not to love is in love an infallible means of being loved. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Some people resemble ballads which are only sung for a certain time. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It is easy to be wise on behalf of others than to be so for ourselves. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Humility is often only a feigned submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people to submit to them; it is a more calculated sort of pride. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Nature makes merit, and fortune puts it to work. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

There are few people who would not be ashamed of being loved when they love no longer. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Minds of moderate caliber ordinarily condemn everthing which is beyond their range. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

There are no circumstances, however unfortunate, that clever people do not extract some advantage from. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Self-love is the love of a man's own self, and of everything else for his own sake. It makes people idolaters to themselves, and tyrants to all the world besides. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It is praiseworthy even to attempt a great action. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Affected simplicity is a subtle imposture. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It is easier to deceive yourself, and to do so unperceived, than to deceive another. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Sometimes accidents happen in life from which we have need of a little madness to extricate ourselves successfully — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Nature seems to have treasured up the depth of our mind talents and abilities that we are not aware of; it is the privilege of the passions alone to bring them to light, and to direct us sometimes to surer and more excellent aims than conscious effort could. — Francois Alexandre Frederic, Duc De La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

Time's chariot-wheels make their carriage-road in the fairest face. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We should wish for few things with eagerness, if we perfectly knew the nature of that which was the object of our desire. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

When we enlarge upon the affection our friends have for us, this is very often not so much out of a sense of gratitude as from a desire to persuade people of our own great worth, that can deserve so much kindness. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Humility is often a false front we employ to gain power over others. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Sobriety is concern for one's health - or limited capacity. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We are easily comforted for the misfortunes of our friends, when those misfortunes give us an occasion of expressing our affection and solicitude. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We are strong enough to bear the misfortunes of others. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It appears that nature has hid at the bottom of our hearts talents and abilities unknown to us. It is only the passions that have the power of bringing them to light, and sometimes give us views more true and more perfect than art could possibly do. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Humility is often only the putting on of a submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people to submit to them; it is a morecalculated sort of pride, which debases itself with a design of being exalted; and though this vice transform itself into a thousand several shapes, yet the disguise is never more effectual nor more capable of deceiving the world than when concealed under a form of humility. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The name and pretense of virtue is as serviceable to self-interest as are real vices. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Flattery is a kind of bad money, to which our vanity gives us currency. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

However different men's fortunes may be, there is always something or other that balances the ill and the good, and makes all even at last. — Francois Alexandre Frederic, Duc De La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

Criticism sometimes is really praise, and praise sometimes slander. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Virtues lose themselves in self-interest, as rivers in the sea. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We should scarcely desire things ardently if we were perfectly acquainted with what we desire. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Young women that would not be thought coquettish, and old men that would not be ridiculous, should never talk of love, as if they had any concern in it. — Francois Alexandre Frederic, Duc De La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

It is most difficult to speak when we are ashamed of being silent. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Love of fame, fear of disgrace, schemes for advancement, desire to make life comfortable and pleasant, and the urge to humiliate others are often at the root of the valour men hold in such high esteem. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Sometimes in life situations develop that only the half-crazy can get out of. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We often pardon those that annoy us, but we cannot pardon those we annoy. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

How deceitful hope may be, yet she carries us on pleasantly to the end of life. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We pardon as long as we love. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We are almost always bored by just those whom we must not find boring. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

A lofty mind always thinks nobly, it easily creates vivid, agreeable, and natural fancies, places them in their best light, clothes them with all appropriate adornments, studies others' tastes, and clears away from its own thoughts all that is useless and disagreeable. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

One honor won is a surety for more. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It is a great act of cleverness to conceal one's being clever. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The judgments our enemies make about us come nearer to the truth than those we make about ourselves. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The dullness of certain people is sometimes a sufficient security against the attack of an artful man. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Familiarity is a suspension of almost all the laws of civility, which libertinism has introduced into society under the notion of ease. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

In the misfortunes of our best friends we always find something not altogether displeasing to us. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It often happens that things come into the mind in a more finished form than could have been achieved after much study. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Everyone agrees that a secret should be kept intact, but everyone does not agree as to the nature and importance of secrecy. Too often we consult ourselves as to what we should say, what we should leave unsaid. There are few permanent secrets, and the scruple against revealing them will not last forever. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Most frequently we make confidants from vanity, a love of talking, a wish to win the confidence of others, and to make an exchange of secrets. — Francois Alexandre Frederic, Duc De La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

Some follies are caught, like contagious diseases. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The reason we bitterly hate those who deceive us is because they think they are cleverer than we are. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The man whom no one pleases is much more unhappy than the man who pleases no one. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Too great refinement is false delicacy, and true delicacy is solid refinement. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Self-interest speaks all manner of tongues and plays all manner of parts, even that of disinterestedness. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Jealousy contains more of self-love than of love. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The best way to rise in society is to use all possible means of persuading people that one has already risen in society. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Nothing is rarer than true good nature; they who are reputed to have it are generally only pliant or weak. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

As the great ones of this world are unable to bestow health of body or peace of mind, we always pay too high a price for any good they can do. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The love of new acquaintance comes not so much from being weary of what we had before, or from any satisfaction there is in change, as from the distaste we feel in being too little admired by those that know us too well, and the hope of being more admired by those that know us less. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Pity is often a reflection of our own evils in the ills of others. It is a delicate foresight of the troubles into which we may fall. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Organize one's values in the order of their worth — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The constancy of sages is nothing but the art of locking up their agitation in their hearts. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Generosity is the vanity of giving. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

All men are equally proud. The only difference is that not all take the same methods of showing it. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Those who are themselves incapable of great crimes are ever backward to suspect others. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It is a mighty error to suppose that none but violent and strong passions, such as love and ambition, are able to vanquish the rest. Even idleness, as feeble and languishing as it is, sometimes reigns over them; it usurps the throne and sits paramount over all the designs and actions of our lives, and imperceptibly wastes and destroys all our passions and all our virtues. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The qualities we have do not make us so ridiculous as those which we affect to have.
[Fr., On n'est jamais si ridicule par les qualites que l'on a que par celles que l'on affecte d'avoir.] — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

There are few people more convinced of their own genius than those who complain of how stupid they are. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

In great affairs we ought to apply ourselves less to creating chances than to profiting from those that offer. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It is easier to know men in general, than men in particular. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

If one judges love according to the greatest part of the effects it produces, it would appear to resemble rather hatred than kindness. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

In their early passions women are in love with the lover, later they are in love with love. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

To establish yourself in the world a person must do all they can to appear already established. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Sometimes we think we dislike flattery, but it is only the way it is done that we dislike. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The violence done us by others is often less painful than that which we do to ourselves. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Few people know how to be old. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Nothing so much prevents our being natural as the desire to seem so. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Customary use of artifice is the sign of a small mind, and it almost always happens that he who uses it to cover one spot uncovers himself in another. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Men never desire anything very eagerly which they desire only by the dictates of reason. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Preserving health by too severe a rule is a worrisome malady. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Sincerity is a certain openness of heart. It is to be found in very few, and what we commonly look upon to be so is only a cunningsort of dissimulation, to insinuate ourselves into the confidence of others. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

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

People are more slanderous from vanity than from malice. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

A good woman is a hidden treasure; who discovers her will do well not to boast about it. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld