Quotes from Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The principal point of cleverness is to know how to value things just as they deserve.

Nature makes merit, and fortune puts it to work.

We all have enough strength to endure the misfortunes of others.

Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.

We are strong enough to bear the misfortunes of others.

Hope, deceiving as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route.

The constancy of the wise is only the art of keeping disquietude to one's self.

Philosophy finds it an easy matter to vanquish past and future evils, but the present are commonly too hard for it.

There are various sorts of curiosity; one is from interest, which makes us desire to know that which may be useful to us; and the other, from pride which comes from the wish to know what others are ignorant of.

It is worth nothing to be young without being beautiful, nor to be beautiful without being young.

Nothing is more ridiculous in old people that were once good-looking, than to forget that they are not so still.

The desire which urges us to deserve praise strengthens our good qualities, and praise given to wit, valour, and beauty, tends to increase them.

Old people are fond of giving good advice; it consoles them for no longer being capable of setting a bad example.

What keeps us from abandoning ourselves entirely to one vice, often, is the fact that we have several.

When our vices leave us, we like to imagine it is we who are leaving them.

People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.

Idiots and lunatics see only their own wit.

All our qualities, whether good or bad, are unstable and ambiguous, and almost all are at the mery of chance.

Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others.

He is safe who admits no one to his confidence.

The person giving the advice returns the confidence placed in him with a disinterested eagerness... and he is usually guided only by his own interest or reputation.

Confidence in conversation has a greater share than wit.

It is as proper to have pride in oneself as it is ridiculous to show it to others.

We can never be certain of our courage until we have faced danger.