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
Old age is a tyrant, who forbids, under pain of death, the pleasures of youth.
A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.
We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.
One forgives to the degree that one loves.
As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing.
Jealousy is bred in doubts. When those doubts change into certainties, then the passion either ceases or turns absolute madness.
We seldom find people ungrateful so long as it is thought we can serve them.
Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.
Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.
Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.
Jealousy lives upon doubts. It becomes madness or ceases entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to certainty.
Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding.
The sure mark of one born with noble qualities is being born without envy.
We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.