Quotes from Francois de La Rochefoucauld

In great affairs we ought to apply ourselves less to creating chances than to profiting from those that are offered.

In jealousy there is more of self-love than love.

We are never so happy or so unhappy as we think.

Nothing is so infectious as example.

A man who finds no satisfaction in himself, seeks for it in vain elsewhere.

True eloquence consists of saying all that should be said, and that only.

The prospect of being pleased tomorrow will never console me for the boredom of today.

I always say to myself, what is the most important thing we can think about at this extraordinary moment.

How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves?

He is a truly virtuous man who wishes always to be open to the observation of honest men.

The strongest symptom of wisdom in man is his being sensible of his own follies.

Wisdom is the mind what health is to the body.

The constancy of sages is nothing but the art of locking up their agitation in their hearts.

It is easy to be wise on behalf of others than to be so for ourselves.

As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.

We say little, when vanity does not make us speak.

Every one speaks well of his own heart, but no one dares speak well of his own mind.

The accent of one's birthplace remains in the mind and in the heart as in one's speech.

There are crimes which become innocent and even glorious through their splendor, number and excess.

Though men pride themselves on their great actions often they are not the result of any great design but of chance.

There are good marriages, but there are no delightful ones.

Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with.

There is no better proof of a man's being truly good than his desiring to be constantly under the observation of good men.

No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does.