François de La Rochefoucauld Quotes

If we had no faults we should not take so much pleasure in noting those of others.

C'est une espèce de coquetterie de faire remarquer qu'on n'en fait jamais.

We have not the strength to follow our reason all the way

Whatever pretext we give to our afflictions it is always interest or vanity that causes them.

The vivacity which increases in old age is not far removed from folly.

La sincérité est une ouverture de coeur. On la trouve en fort peu de gens; et celle que l'on voit d'ordinaire n'est qu'une fine dissimulation pour attirer la confiance des autres.

Man is so wretched that, while he shapes all of his conduct to gratify his passions, he groans incessantly under their tyranny. He can endure neither their violence, nor the violence that he would have to inflict on himself in order to rid himself of their yoke. He is frustrated not only by his vices, but also by the things that would cure them; and he cannot come to terms either with the discomfort of his afflictions or with the task of curing himself.

Il faut peu de choses pour rendre le sage heureux; rien ne peut rendre un fol content; c'est pourquoi presque tous les hommes sont misérables.

We have much trouble to break with one, when we no longer are in love.

Whatever disgrace we may have deserved, it is almost always in our power to re-establish our character.

465. — Innocence is most fortunate if it finds the same protection as crime.

Peu de gens savent être vieux.

XXIII. — The most wise may be so in indifferent and ordinary matters, but they are seldom so in their most serious affairs. (1665, No. 132.)

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

We promise according to our hopes; we perform according to our fears.