François de La Rochefoucauld Quotes

Truth does not do so much good in the world, as the appearance of it does evil.

Though the gifts of the mind are infinite, they can, it seems to me, be thus classified. There are some so beautiful that everyone can see and feel their beauty. There are some lovely, it is true, but which are wearisome. There are some which are lovely, which all the world admire, but without knowing why. There are some so refined and delicate that few are capable even of remarking all their beauties. There are others which, though imperfect, yet are produced with such skill, and sustained and managed with such sense and grace, that they even deserve to be admired.

Nous aurions souvent honte de nos plus belles actions, si le monde voyoit tous les motifs qui les produisent.

267. — A quickness in believing evil without having sufficiently examined it, is the effect of pride and laziness. We wish to find the guilty, and we do not wish to trouble ourselves in examining the crime.

It is much easier to extinguish a first desire than to satisfy all of those that follow it.

We are much harder on people who betray us in small ways than on people who betray others in great ones.

Absense diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and blows up the bonfire.

La constancia de los sabios no es otra cosa que el arte de reprimir su agitación dentro de sí mismos.

But, yet acquired qualities should always have a certain agreement and a certain union with our own natural qualities, which they imperceptibly extend and increase.

We keep our first lover for a long time — if we do not get a second.

Quand on ne trouve pas son repos en soi-même, il est inutile de le chercher ailleurs.

Where love is, no disguise can hide it for long; where it is not, none can simulate it

"Il y a dans la jalousie plus d'amour-propre que d'amour.

"In jealousy, there is more self-love than love.

To succeed in the world we do everything we can to appear successful already.

Tout le monde se plaint de sa mémoire, et personne ne se plaint de son jugement.