Luc de Clapiers
Luc de Clapiers
Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargueswas a minor French writer, a moralist. He died at age 31, in broken health, having published the year prior—anonymously—a collection of essays and aphorisms with the encouragement of Voltaire, his friend. He first received public notice under his own name in 1797, and from 1857 on, his aphorisms became popular. In the history of French literature, his significance lies chiefly in his friendship with Voltaire...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth6 August 1715
CountryFrance
Luc de Clapiers quotes about
Peace renders nations happier and men weaker.
We are not greatly pleased that our friends should respect our good qualities if they venture to perceive our faults.
Despair puts the last touch not only to our misery but also to our weakness.
When we are convinced of some great truths, and feel our convictions keenly, we must not fear to express it, although others have said it before us. Every thought is new when an author expresses it in a manner peculiar to himself.
The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success.
To execute great things, one should live as though one would never die.
Constancy is the chimera of love.
Neither the gifts nor the blows of fortune equal those of nature.
Conscience, the organ of feeling which dominates us and of the opinions which rule us, is presumptuous in the strong, timid in the weak and unfortunate, uneasy in the undecided.
And where, on earth, dwell hope and truth? In childhood's uncorrupted heart; Alas! too soon to guileless youth The world doth its dark code impart!
We discover in ourselves what others hide from us and we recognize in others what we hide from ourselves...
All that is unfair, offends us if it's not beneficial for us
He who seeks fame by the practice of virtue asks only for what he deserves.
Hope is the only good thing that disillusion respects.