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
Hope, deceitful as it is, carries us through life agreeably enough.
People would not long remain in social life if they were not the dupes of each other.
Our distrust justifies the deceit of others.
One may outwit another, but not all the others.
Hope, deceiving as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route.
Some disguised deceits counterfeit truth so perfectly that not to be taken in by them would be an error of judgment.
In love the deceit generally outstrips the distrust.
Our distrust of another justifies his deceit.
In love deceit almost always outstrips distrust.
In love deceit nearly always goes further than mistrust.
It is as easy to deceive one's self without perceiving it, as it is difficult to deceive others without their finding out.
We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones.
We should often blush for our very best actions, if the world did but see all the motives upon which they were done.
When we are in love we often doubt that which we most believe.