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
Too great cleverness is but deceptive delicacy, true delicacy is the most substantial cleverness.
The caprice of our temper is even more whimsical than that of Fortune.
We have not enough strength to follow all our reason.
There are crimes which become innocent and even glorious through their splendor, number and excess.
We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.
We seldom find people ungrateful so long as it is thought we can serve them.
How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves?
Humility is often a false front we employ to gain power over others.
Why can we remember the tiniest detail that has happened to us, and not remember how many times we have told it to the same person.
Women's virtue is frequently nothing but a regard to their own quiet and a tenderness for their reputation.
There are few good women who do not tire of their role.
We often shed tears that deceive ourselves after deceiving others.
It is more often from pride than from defective understanding that people oppose established opinions: they find the best places taken in the good party and are reluctant to accept inferior ones.
It is no tragedy to do ungrateful people favors, but it is unbearable to be indebted to a scoundrel.