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
Francois de La Rochefoucauld quotes about
Silence is the safest policy if you are unsure of yourself.
Moderation is like sobriety: you would like to have some more, but are afraid of making yourself ill.
Generosity is the vanity of giving.
Gratitude is like the good faith of traders: it maintains commerce, and we often pay, not because it is just to discharge our debts, but that we may more readily find people to trust us.
It is easier to deceive yourself, and to do so unperceived, than to deceive another.
Ability wins us the esteem of the true men; luck, that of the people.
L'absence diminue les mediocres passions, et augmente les grandes,comme le vent eteint les bougies, et allume le feu. Absence diminishes commonplace passions, and increases great ones, as wind extinguishes candles and kindles fire.
There is no accident so unfortunate but wise men will make some advantage of it, nor any so entirely fortunate but fools may turn it to their own prejudice.
There are few occasions when we should make a bad bargain by giving up the good on condition that no ill was said of us.
It is worth nothing to be young without being beautiful, nor to be beautiful without being young.
Too great refinement is false delicacy, and true delicacy is solid refinement.
It is a species of coquetry to make a parade of never practising it.
People would not long remain in social life if they were not the dupes of each other.
Reason alone is insufficient to make us enthusiastic in any matter.