Quotes from Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Not to love is in love an infallible means of being loved.

There are people who would never have been in love, had they never heard love spoken of.

Beautiful coquettes are quacks of love.

True friendship destroys envy, and true love destroys coquetterie.

People would never fall in love if they hadn't heard love talked about.

Perfect behavior is born of complete indifference.

Though men are apt to flatter and exalt themselves with their great achievements, yet these are, in truth, very often owing not so much to design as chance.

However greatly we distrust the sincerity of those we converse with, yet still we think they tell more truth to us than to anyone else.

Truth does not do as much good in the world as its imitations do harm.

The judgments our enemies make about us come nearer to the truth than those we make about ourselves.

We should not be upset that others hide the truth from us, when we hide it so often from ourselves.

Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.

Our enemies' opinion of us comes closer to the truth than our own.

Truth has scarce done so much good in the world as the false appearances of it have done hurt.

The desire of talking of ourselves, and showing those faults we do not mind having seen, makes up a good part of our sincerity.

To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.

It is impossible to love a second time what we have really ceased to love.

A gentleman may love like a lunatic, but not like a beast.

Love is to the soul of him who loves, what the soul is to the body which it animates.

Most women lament not the death of their lovers so much out of real affection for them, as because they would appear worthy of love.

Women find it far more difficult to overcome their inclination to coquetry than to overcome their love.

In love the deceit generally outstrips the distrust.

Women in love sooner forgive great indiscretions than small infidelities.

The reason why most women have so little sense of friendship is that this is but a cold and flat passion to those that have felt that of love.