1613-1680, French Classical Writer
A person well satisfied with themselves is seldom satisfied with others, and others, rarely are with them.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [People]
A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Praise]
A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care to acquire.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Friends and Friendship]
Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Absence]
All women are flirts, but some are restrained by shyness, and others by sense.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Flirting]
Although men flatter themselves with their great actions, they are not so often the result of a great design as of chance.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Luck]
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.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Wisdom]
As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Age and Aging]
Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Models and Modeling]
Bodily labor alleviates the pains of the mind and from this arises the happiness of the poor.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Work]
Chance corrects us of many faults that reason would not know how to correct.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Luck]
Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Conversation]
Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Decency]
Envy is more irreconcilable than hatred.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Envy]
Everyone complains of the badness of his memory, but nobody of his judgment.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Judgment and Judges]
Few people know how to be old.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Age and Aging]
Few persons have sufficient wisdom to prefer censure, which is useful, to praise which deceives them.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Censure]
Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail to succeed.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Perseverance]
Fortune and humor govern the world.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Humor]
Funeral pomp is more for the vanity of the living than for the honor of the dead.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld – [Funerals]