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 given to few persons to keep this secret well. Those who lay down rules too often break them, and the safest we are able to give is to listen much, to speak little, and to say nothing that that will ever give ground or regret.
Perfect behavior is born of complete indifference.
Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others.
What makes us so often discontented with those who transact business for us is that they almost always abandon the interest of their friends for the interest of the business, because they wish to have the honor of succeeding in that which they have undertaken.
There are some disguised falsehoods so like truths, that 'twould be to judge ill not to be deceived by them.
None but great men are capable of having great flaws.
When our vices desert us, we flatter ourselves that we are deserting our vices.
The generality of men have, like plants, latent properties, which chance brings to light.
Only strong natures can really be sweet ones; those that seem sweet are in general only weak, and may easily turn sour.
Love often leads on to ambition, but seldom does one return from ambition to love.
If a man doesn't find ease in himself, 'tis in vain to seek it elsewhere.
There is only one kind of love, but there are a thousand imitations.
Men more easily renounce their interests than their tastes.
Many people despise wealth, but few know how to give it away.