François de La Rochefoucauld Quotes

French author of maxims and memoirs (1613-1680)

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, le Prince de Marcillac (September 15 1613 – March 17 1680) was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs, as well as an example of the accomplished 17th-century nobleman.

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Alternative Names: François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac • François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld • François, duc de La Rochefoucauld

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La vérité ne fait pas tant de bien dans le monde
que ses apparences y font de mal.

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

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

We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.

La vivacité qui augmente en vieillissant ne va pas loin de la folie.

Ceux qui ont eu de grandes passions se trouvent toute leur vie heureux, et malheureux, d'en être guéris.

La jalousie se nourrit dans les doutes, et elle devient fureur, ou elle finit, sitôt qu'on passe du doute à la certitude.

We are eager to believe that others are flawed because we are eager to believe in what we wish for.

Il n’y a guère d'homme assez habile pour connaître tout le mal qu'il fait.

357. — Little minds are too much wounded by little things; great minds see all and are not even hurt.

269. — No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does.

389. — What makes the vanity of others unsupportable is that it wounds our own.

The magnanimity of princes is often but a policy to gain the love of their people.

There is an air which belongs to the figure and talents of each individual; we always lose it when we abandon it to assume another. We should try to find out what air is natural to us and never abandon it, but make it as perfect as we can. This is the reason that the majority of children please. It is because they are wrapt up in the air and manner nature has given them, and are ignorant of any other. They are changed and corrupted when they quit infancy, they think they should imitate what they see, and they are not altogether able to imitate it. In this imitation there is always something of falsity and uncertainty. They have nothing settled in their manner and opinions. Instead of being in reality what they want to appear, they seek to appear what they are not.

Ce n'est pas assez d'avoir de grandes qualités, il en faut avoir l'économie.

François de La Rochefoucauld Quotes

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