Quotes from Francois de La Rochefoucauld

It is a great act of cleverness to be able to conceal one's being clever.

Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.

Humility is often a false front we employ to gain power over others.

No man deserves to be praised for his goodness, who has it not in his power to be wicked. Goodness without that power is generally nothing more than sloth, or an impotence of will.

If we are incapable of finding peace in ourselves, it is pointless to search elsewhere.

The violence we do to ourselves in order to remain faithful to the one we love is hardly better than an act of infidelity.

Jealousy is the greatest of all evils, and the one that arouses the least pity in the person who causes it.

Jealousy is nothing more than a fear of abandonment

The sure mark of one born with noble qualities is being born without envy.

The truest mark of being born with great qualities is to be born without envy.

We should only affect compassion, and carefully avoid having any.

If we resist our passions, it is more due to their weakness than our strength.

Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended.

It is from a weakness and smallness of mind that men are opinionated; and we are very loath to believe what we are not able to comprehend.

We get so much in the habit of wearing disguises before others that we finally appear disguised before ourselves.

There is many a virtuous woman weary of her trade.

The generality of friends puts us out of conceit with friendship; just as the generality of religious people puts us out of conceit with religion.

Honest people will respect us for our merit: the public, for our luck.

The daily employment of cunning marks a little mind, it generally happens that those who resort to it in one respect to protect themselves lay themselves open to attack in another.

To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.

We should desire very few things passionately if we did but perfectly know the nature of the things we desire.

It is necessary, in order to know things well, to know the particulars of them; and these, being infinite, make our knowledge eversuperficial and imperfect.

We seldom praise anyone in good earnest, except such as admire us.

Usually we praise only to be praised.