Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues Quotes

The art of pleasing is the art of deception.

As soon as an opinion becomes common it is sufficient reason for men to abandon it and to uphold the opposite opinion until that in its turn grows old, and they require to distinguish themselves by other things. Thus if they attain their goal in some art or science, we must expect them soon to cast it aside to acquire some fresh fame, and this is partly the reason why the most splendid ages degenerate so quickly, and, scarcely emerged from barbarism, plunge into it again.

It is proof of a narrow mind when things worthy of esteem are distinguished from things worthy of love. Great minds naturally love whatever is worthy of their esteem.

Clarity is the good faith of philosophers

Young people suffer less from their faults than from the prudence of the old.

The thought of death deceives us; for it causes us to neglect to live.

He who knows how to suffer everything can dare everything.

When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected.

As it is natural to believe many things without proof, so, despite all proof, is it natural to disbelieve others.

Il est faux que l’égalité soit une loi de la nature. La nature n’a rien fait d’égal; la loi souveraine est la subordination et la dépendance.

Are we surprised if a sick man cannot walk, or keep awake, or stand upright? Would it not be more surprising if he was the same man as when he was well? If we have a headache, or have slept badly, we are excused for telling incapable of work, and yet no one suspects us of always being lazy. Shall we deny a dying man the privilege we grant a man with a headache? And dare we assert that the man who lacks courage in his last agony never possessed virtue when he was well.

It is not true that equality is a law of nature. nature has made nothing equal, her sovereign law is subordination and dependence.

La nécessité nous délivre de l'embarras du choix.

The generality of men are so bound within the sphere of their circumstances that they have not even the courage to get out of them through their ideas, and if we see a few whom, in a way, speculation over great things makes incapable of mean ones, we find still more with whom the practice of small things takes away the feeling for great ones.

Hope deceives more men than cunning does.