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Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
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Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Age: 66 †
Born: 1613
Born: September 15
Died: 1680
Died: March 17
Memoirist
Military Personnel
Writer
Paris
France
François VI
Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Prince de Marcillac
François
Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Strictly
Decency
Observed
Laws
Least
Law
More quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
It is only persons of firmness that can have real gentleness. Those who appear gentle are, in general, only a weak character, which easily changes into asperity.
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It is as easy to unknowingly deceive yourself as it is to deceive others.
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Moderation resembles temperance. We are not so unwilling to eat more, as afraid of doing ourselves harm by it.
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Few things are needed to make a wise man happy nothing can make a fool content that is why most men are miserable.
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A man often believes himself leader when he is led as his mind endeavors to reach one goal, his heart insensibly drags him towards another.
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Passions often produce their contraries: avarice sometimes leads to prodigality, and prodigality to avarice we are often obstinate through weakness and daring through timidity.
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There are few people who are more often in the wrong than those who cannot endure to be so.
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The contempt of riches in philosophers was only a hidden desire to avenge their merit upon the injustice of fortune, by despising the very goods of which fortune had deprived them it was a secret to guard themselves against the degradation of poverty, it was a back way by which to arrive at that distinction which they could not gain by riches.
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What makes false reckoning, as regards gratitude, is that the pride of the giver and the receiver cannot agree as to the value of the benefit.
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That man, we may be sure, is a person of true worth, whom those who envy him most are yet forced to praise.
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Great men should not have great faults.
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Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted.
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Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.
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What makes lovers never tire of one another is that they talk always about themselves.
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In all aspects of life, we take on a part and an appearance to seem to be what we wish to be--and thus the world is merely composed of actors.
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A readiness to believe ill of others, before we have duly examined it, is the effect of laziness and pride. We are eager to find aculprit, and loath to give ourselves the trouble of examining the crime.
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If you cannot find peace in yourself, it is useless to look for it elsewhere.
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Hope is the last thing that dies in man and though it be exceedingly deceitful, yet it is of this good use to us, that while we are traveling through life it conducts us in an easier and more pleasant way to our journey's end.
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Women can less easily surmount their coquetry than their passions.
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Our probity is not less at the mercy of fortune than our property.
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