Francois VI Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Francois VI Duc de La Rochefoucauld
homage hypocrisy pays vice
Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.
absence candles diminishes fans great increases passions wind
Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire.
flatterer french-writer greatest
Self-love is the greatest flatterer in the world.
examine happy hearts possess
Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it.
fights side wrong
Fights would not last, if only one side was wrong
condition french-writer people render seldom ungrateful
We seldom find people ungrateful so long as we are in a condition to render them service.
admire french-writer love
We always love those that admire us, but we do not always love those we admire.
admire love whom
We love those who admire us, but not those whom we admire.
detail good happened last memory recall
Why is our memory good enough to recall to the last detail things that have happened to us, yet not good enough to recall how often we have told them to the same person.
desire lead sufficient ways
There are ways which lead to everything, and if we have sufficient will we should always have sufficient means.
clever evil extent full hardly man recognize
There is hardly a man clever enough to recognize the full extent of the evil he does.
badly egotism ourselves rather speak talk
We would rather speak badly of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.
cannot contentment seek useless
When we cannot find contentment in ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
affairs ashamed few love people sad-love
There are few people who are not ashamed of their love affairs when the infatuation is over.