Quotes By Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with.

The principal point of cleverness is to know how to value things just as they deserve.

Love can no more continue without a constant motion than fire can; and when once you take hope and fear away, you take from it its very life and being.

Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.

No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so.

We do not praise others, ordinarily, but in order to be praised ourselves.

It's easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.

You can find women who have never had an affair, but it is hard to find a woman who has had just one.

If we had no faults of our own, we should not take so much pleasure in noticing those in others.

We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.

The mind is always the patsy of the heart.

There is only one kind of love, but there are a thousand imitations.

We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.

When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time.

Ridicule dishonors a man more than dishonor does.

We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all the motives which produced them.

The desire to seem clever often keeps us from being so.

One forgives to the degree that one loves.

Every one speaks well of his own heart, but no one dares speak well of his own mind.

The accent of one's birthplace remains in the mind and in the heart as in one's speech.

Flattery is a kind of bad money, to which our vanity gives us currency.

Our aversion to lying is commonly a secret ambition to make what we say considerable, and have every word received with a religious respect.

Jealousy lives upon doubts. It becomes madness or ceases entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to certainty.

Heat of blood makes young people change their inclinations often, and habit makes old ones keep to theirs a great while.

There are very few things impossible in themselves; and we do not want means to conquer difficulties so much as application and resolution in the use of means.

It is with true love as it is with ghosts; everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.

Fortune converts everything to the advantage of her favorites.

Those who occupy their minds with small matters, generally become incapable of greatness.

The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.

Some people displease with merit, and others' very faults and defects are pleasing.