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
The heaviest object in the world is the body of the woman you have ceased to love.
Consciousness of our strength increases it.
We ought never to be afraid to repeat an ancient truth, when we feel that we can make it more striking by a neater turn, or bring it alongside of another truth, which may make it clearer, and thereby accumulate evidence. It belongs to the inventive faculty to see clearly the relative state of things, and to be able to place them in connection; but the discoveries of ages gone by belong less to their first authors than to those who make them practically useful to the world.
The young suffer less from their own errors than from the cautiousness of the old.
We must expect everything and fear everything from time and from men.
It is a great sign of mediocrity to praise always moderately.
We are dismayed when we find that even disaster cannot cure us of our faults.
Few maxims are true in every respect.
It is easy to criticize an author, but difficult to appreciate him.
A new principle is an inexhaustible source of new views.
Our actions are neither so good nor so evil as our impulses.
Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.
If virtue were its own reward, it would no longer be a human quality, but supernatural.
Prosperity makes some friends and many enemies.