Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillacla ʁɔʃfuˈko]; 15 September 1613 – 17 March 1680) was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs. It is said that his world-view was clear-eyed and urbane, and that he neither condemned human conduct nor sentimentally celebrated it. Born in Paris on the Rue des Petits Champs, at a time when the royal court was vacillating between aiding the nobility and threatening it, he was considered an exemplar of the accomplished 17th-century...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth15 September 1613
CountryFrance
It is not in the power of even the most crafty dissimulation to conceal love long, where it really is, nor to counterfeit it long where it is not.
Only the contemptible fear contempt.
Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.
It takes nearly as much ability to know how to profit by good advice as to know how to act for one's self.
Pride, which inspires us with so much envy, is sometimes of use toward the moderating of it too.
The virtues and vices are all put in motion by interest.
There is many a virtuous woman weary of her trade.
We do not despise all those who have vices, but we do despise those that have no virtue.
We only confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no big ones.
Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs.
If we resist our passions, it is more due to their weakness than our strength.
Perfect Valor is to do, without a witness, all that we could do before the whole world.
That good disposition which boasts of being most tender is often stifled by the least urging of self-interest.
The passions are the only orators which always persuade.