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
There are no accidents so unlucky from which clever people are not able to reap some advantage, and none so lucky that the foolish are not able to turn them to their own disadvantage.
Hope is the last thing that dies in man.
Humility is the altar upon which God wishes that we should offer Him His sacrifices.
We are lazier in our minds than in our bodies.
Idleness is more an infirmity of the mind than of the body.
The wind which snuffs the candle fans the fire.
There are good marriages, but there are no delightful ones.
We frequently do good in order to enable us to do evil later with impunity exemption of punishment.
Satire is at once the most agreeable and most dangerous of mental qualities. It always pleases when it is refined, but we always fear those who use it too much; yet satire should be allowed when unmixed with spite, and when the person satirized can join in the satire.
Everyone agrees that a secret should be kept intact, but everyone does not agree as to the nature and importance of secrecy. Too often we consult ourselves as to what we should say, what we should leave unsaid. There are few permanent secrets, and the scruple against revealing them will not last forever.
The prospect of being pleased tomorrow will never console me for the boredom of today.
That which makes the vanity of others unbearable to us is that which wounds our own.
What is perfectly true is perfectly witty.
We endeavor to make a virtue of the faults we are unwilling to correct.