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
True eloquence consists in saying all that should be said, and that only.
A man's happiness or unhappiness depends as much on his temperament as on his destiny.
There are crimes which become innocent and even glorious through their splendor, number and excess.
We always like those who admire us.
It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.
Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted.
It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.
Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them.
We only acknowledge small faults in order to make it appear that we are free from great ones.
It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.
In the presence of some people we inevitably depart From ourselves: we are inaccurate, we say things we do not feel, And talk nonsense. When we get home we are conscious that we Have made fools of ourselves. Never go near these people.
The height of cleverness is to be able to conceal it.
It is easy to be wise on behalf of others than to be so for ourselves.
Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.